


Might fool around and make me mad (don’t make me mad)

by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz



Series: The Possession of Gary Green [4]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Lucifer (TV)
Genre: American Horror Story References, Angst, Darhkatom when you squint, Demonic Possession, Demons, Demons really suck, Discord: Flarrowverse Shipyard, Except for Maze, Exorcisms, Horror, Love Confessions, Minor Deckerstar, Neron is actually the worst, Some Zarlie content, ish, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18900415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz/pseuds/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz
Summary: After John, Mick, and Ray are arrested at Lux and Nora and Des are left on their own, the remaining Legends try to figure out their next moves to stop Neron (and get him out of Gary's body too). However, the events of the night have lessened the Devil's trust in the visiting demon, especially when Neron's behavior starts to take a concerning turn. But the longer the hunt goes on, a question begins to rise to the surface.Can they defeat Neron *and* save Gary in time?





	1. Act 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [harleygirl2648](https://archiveofourown.org/users/harleygirl2648/gifts), [FirenzeSun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirenzeSun/gifts), [Rivulet027](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/gifts), [dametokillfor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dametokillfor/gifts), [GeekyRamblings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekyRamblings/gifts), [SheWhoWalksUnseen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheWhoWalksUnseen/gifts).



> Figured finale night would be a good time to start posting the next parts of this AU. The recent turn of events with Gary was very good for my soul and I was very distracted (especially in Nip/Stuck, I'm not sorry)
> 
> Anyways, I'm planning on 3 chapters for now. Hopefully this first one provides enough action in wait for the next part!
> 
> Also, I wrote this before watching S4 of Lucifer (and also crying and yelling over that). We're gonna gloss over that for now until I figure out how to work it in.

               Nora wasn’t quite sure where she was when she came to. It appeared to be someone’s living room by the looks of it. How she’d gotten there didn’t make much sense given she’d been outside a night club when she blacked out. All she had been trying to do was get away from the cloying energy of demons only to encounter the worst of them. Just remembering the face of that man, his true face, made her shudder all over. It was the face of pure evil.

“Nora?” Des appeared around the corner. “You’re awake.”

She nodded, sliding upright on the couch she was on. “Yup. That sucked.”

“I can’t blame you. All that demonic energy was suffocating in that club. But it turns out that Neron isn’t the only demon in LA.”

“After what Desmond told me about him, I hope he doesn’t become a full-time resident here,” the woman who’d gotten Nora out of the club said as she came into the room. “We’ve had plenty to deal with when he wasn’t here.”

“What?” Nora frowned. “What do you mean? Who are you?”

“My name’s Linda Martin,” the woman introduced herself. “You’re both at my house. I would have brought your friends too, except they’ve been arrested. Des agreed to let me bring you back her so you wouldn’t wake up on the street.”

“Nora Darhk,” she murmured in reply. “Thank you for helping me.”

“I just did what any compassionate person would have done. It’s not a problem.”

“I told her what happened to you,” Des explained. “Apparently, Dr. Martin knows the club owner because she’s his therapist. He’s also the devil.”

“That explains it,” Nora rubbed at her temples. “That face…”

“It’s a lot,” Linda nodded. “I’ve seen it myself. That’s how I found out that angels and demons were among us.”

“So I guess that telling you Des and I have both been demon vessels wouldn’t break your brain?”

“Desmond already told me about that,” Linda told her. “He also told me who you were trying to find here in LA. I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your friend.”

“So are we,” Nora murmured, wondering if Gary was still hanging on inside. “You said our friends have been arrested?”

Des nodded. “Johnny, Ray, and Mick all got taken away. Problem is we’re going to have to find the Waverider and get the others for help. And bail money.”

“You’re both welcome to stay for the rest of the night,” Linda said. “You two have been through a lot. Just rest and regroup.”

* * *

 

“Gideon?” Sara called out as she slipped out of bed. “Did John or any of the others come back yet?”

“I’m afraid not, Captain. Mr. Constantine, Dr. Palmer, Mr. Rory, Mr. Laveau, and Ms. Darhk have still not returned since last night.”

Ava stuck her head out from the pillow she’d burrowed under. “That’s not good news.”

“No kidding,” Sara sighed, her worst fears having been confirmed. “Is there any sign of them in the LA area?”

“I’ll run a scan right now.”

“Hopefully, they’re still alive,” Ava yawned as she too left the bed. “I can’t handle finding one of them in same state as McNeil. “

“I know. But we’re going to find Gary and send Neron back to Hell.”

               A half smile came to Ava’s face at the reassurance. The couple soon left the room for the kitchen, where Charlie already was sitting with a cup of coffee and stack of pancakes. As they started getting their own meals, Ava called up on the Bureau on the monitor for updates. She’d placed Nate and Mona in charge, which Hank didn’t seem to be pleased by. He had a problem with the director of the Time Bureau dropping everything because one agent had gone rogue.

Ava ground her teeth. “Gary is not just some rogue agent and you can tell Hank that.”

Nate nodded. “Is there anything new?”

“John took half the team out with him last night,” Sara explained. “I think they were planning to ambush Neron. John’s been so pissed about this that he’s not exactly been communicating healthily with the rest of us.”

“Can’t say I blame him,” Mona said. “I mean, Gary did trade himself to Neron to spare Constantine, right?”

“Yep,” Charlie shouted from her seat as Zari stumbled into the kitchen. The shapeshifter slid the pancakes over to her. “Johnny boy’s been wallowing in guilt over it ever since then.”

“Fortunately, I now have his whereabouts, along with those of Dr. Palmer and Mr. Rory,” Gideon interrupted. “Arrests have been filed for them with the Los Angles Police Department. While the charges vary, all three of them were arrested outside the Lux nightclub last night. I have also located CCTV footage of Mr. Laveau and an unidentified woman helping Ms. Darhk into a car by the club.”

“Pull up the footage,” Sara ordered. “Send it to Nate at the Bureau.”

“We’re going to take a look and then get back to you,” Ava told Mona and Nate. “Just keep things together on your end.”

“Will do, and good timing. I have to deal with another call from Gary’s dad right now. See you soon.”

               Nate and Mona disappeared and were replaced with the footage Gideon had found. John, Nora, and Mick were seen going in. They watched John get thrown out by the bouncers, Nora running out and fainting after encountering a tall, handsome man, and Des taking her from him before leaving on his own volition with a woman who’d come out with Nora. Ray, John, and Mick were arrested by a blonde cop, who engaged in a heated conversation with the man who’d been with Nora when she fainted. There was no sign of Neron in any of it.

“How did they know to go to that club?” Zari asked as they watched their teammates get marched into police cars. “There’s tons of nightclubs in Los Angles right now, aren’t there? Why would they go to this one?”

Sara hummed in agreement. “She’s right. Gideon, what can you tell us about Lux?”

“It’s owned by Lucifer Morningstar and is notable for being one of the top clubs in LA nightlife,” Gideon reported. “With the events of last night, I have also found that Mr. Morningstar is a civilian consultant to the LAPD.”

“Lucifer Morningstar?” Sara frowned. “With a name like that and John ending up at his club, something tells me he might not be human. Unless he changed his name, there’s no way someone could name their kid that.”

Ava nodded. “It’s like naming your kid Adolf.”

“Or Donald,” Zari chimed in.

“Records for Mr. Morningstar date back only until 2012,” Gideon said as pictures flooded the monitor. “But there are images from the 1970’s that are a photographic match for images of Mr. Morningstar today.”

“Okay, so it’s another Vandal Savage or I think he’s actually the Devil,” Sara murmured, studying the face onscreen.

“The Devil…” Ava shuddered. “Of course. Neron said he was going to visit old friends. I figured her meant some magical creatures or another demon, but not the Devil.”

“Because one demon wasn’t bad enough,” Zari mumbled. “Okay, so what do we do? Des and Nora are still missing. The guys are in jail. Neron’s on the loose and we have no idea where he could have gone.”

“Gideon, run a scan on all cameras in LA for Gary’s body,” Sara ordered. “We can’t face him on reduced numbers, but we can narrow down locations where he’s been and find out where he’s going. Right now, we need to get everyone back together. At least we know where three of them are.”

“LAPD,” Charlie grinned. “That’ll be fun.”

Ava pinched the bridge of her nose. “We’re going to need bail money. A lot of bail money.”

* * *

 

“Well, at least it’s better in here than in the gulag,” Ray told Mick as cheerily as he could muster in the holding cell.

“We had separate bunks then,” Mick muttered, still grumpy from waking up to find himself sleeping on Ray’s shoulder. “And Snart got me out eventually.”

“Someone will come for us. There’s no way that they could leave all three of us in here.”

               Mick gave a small shrug and leaned back against the wall again. On the other bench, John was lying on his chest, still dead to the world. A dark bruise was visible on part of his face that must have come from the club fight. He’d been semi-coherent when they’d been tossed in here and then passed out on the first bench he’d slumped onto.

“Nora and Des are still out there,” Ray murmured, wondering about the former’s adverse reaction to the club. “Maybe they got back to the Waverider?”

“Maybe, yeah. That’s the nice way of thinking about it.”

“Nothing wrong with having a little faith.”

               Another ten, twenty minutes passed by before a door opened down the hallway. Voices could be heard conversing, although someone was clearly ribbing their companion before two men came to a stop in front of the holding cell. One of them had a badge at his hip and was unfamiliar. The other, taller one was the man from the club, the one who knew John and had been shouting at him.

“Ah, there they are,” the taller one smiled. “The terrible trio.”

Ray stared at the man with a frown. “What’s happening?”

“Your bail’s been posted,” the one with the badge told him. “Free to go, all three of you. Wake your buddy up and I’ll get your belongings.”

“Thanks,” Ray grinned at him as their cell was unlocked, then looked over at the third member in their party. “Hey, John!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle that,” the taller of the two assured him as he strolled into the cell and leaned down in front of John. “Wakey wakey, then.”

John cracked his eyes open and let out a moan. “Is it-”

“No, it’s not your time yet. Up and at ‘em, Constantine. We have a lot to discuss.”

“I ain’t going anywhere with you until I know who the suit is,” Mick growled.

“Smart idea,” John muttered as he sat up. “Meet Lucifer Morningstar, the owner of that lovely little nightclub we were arrested at.”

Ray smiled. “Ray Palmer. Interesting name you have.”

“One of many,” Lucifer smirked, his eyes falling on Mick. “That must mean you’re Mick Rory. Heatwave himself. I’ve read plenty on your exploits with Mr. Snart in Central City. Pleasure to meet the man behind the goggles.”

Mick stared at him for a moment, then stood up. “Okay, I’ll go with him.”

John snorted as they followed Lucifer out of the cell. “Of course you would, he’s the Devil.”

“Hang on, the what?” Ray yelped, turning quickly to Lucifer.

“The Devil, yes,” Lucifer nodded. “Did the name Lucifer Morningstar not tip you off? That’s not the point though. Like I said, there’s a lot to discuss. We should do it over breakfast. I know an excellent place-“

“I don’t do breakfast with the Devil,” John shook his head. “Thanks for the save, but we’ll be on our way.”

“Oh, I think you’ll want to reconsider that, especially it concerns Neron.”

Ray saw John reach for his pocket, but his hand fell away with a sigh. “Breakfast it is.”

* * *

 

“I heard John Constantine came through last night,” Maze said as she lounged in one of the booths. “Apparently he started a fight. Your doing?”

Neron nodded from the other side.

“You’ve gotten better at concentrating it on one place.”

“Centuries of practice,” Neron shrugged. “Not controlling it though, that’s way more fun. Can’t turn off who I am, Maze.”

“You have your chaos, I have my knives,” Maze smirked. “As fun as it was to watch security footage of Constantine going mad and getting arrested, what did you do that brought him here?”

“Well, you know he’s damned to hell. He’s determined to take as many of us down with him as possible.”

“No, there’s more,” Maze sat up. “You’re up to something, Neron. Even in hell, you were always planning something.”

Neron smiled fondly. “We’re demons, Maze. That’s how we are.”

“But whatever it was drew Constantine here to follow after you, and he brought back-up. It must be something.”

“He’s just running off of guilt of letting this wimp become my new host. He doesn’t know what I’m truly creating.”

“And what is that?”

Neron tilted his head. “Come out with me tonight and I’ll tell you. We can have a night on the town. Tear it up, paint it red, just like we did the last time we were on Earth.”

Maze raised her eyebrow and leaned closer. “And you’ll tell me everything?”

“I will. So what do you say, Mazey?”

“For old time’s sake,” Maze grinned dangerously. “One night, just like we used to.”

“Perfect,” Neron flashed his host’s stupid blinding smile. “How about I pick you up around nine? I can’t stick around today. There are some things I have to do today.”

Maze watched as he left the booth and started heading for the exit. “Where are you going?”

“Taking a tour of the city. Don’t worry, I’ll hold out enough for our fun tonight.”

               Maze watched him leave the bar. Lucifer had left a while ago to visit the police station, so he was probably out with Chloe for a while. While she was all alone in the club, she could get some of her own work. With Neron out, she could piece together more of how he’d come to this host. The more she knew, the more she could prepare for whatever he was plotting.

* * *

 

“We should really be going to the police for this. I have my badge, I’ll call in-“

“But this was on our way,” Charlie gestured to the club they were in front of. “Let’s go in and have a look, see if the owner’s there, and have a chat with him.”

“Charlie’s right,” Sara shrugged as they walked past the sign for Lux. “We can go to the cops next, but the last place they were seen was here, and Gideon did pull that footage of Neron walking in there. It’s worth a shot.”

When they made it up to the right floor, they didn’t see anyone. Sara was the first to step out, making her way down the short staircase to scan the rest of the club. Still no one.

“Nice place,” Ava remarked. “Except it’s completely empty.”

“You looking for someone?”

               The group turned around to see a woman leaning on the railing above them. Sara could have sworn she wasn’t there a moment ago. The way she stared at them like a lioness regarding her prey reminded Sara of assassins she had known in the League. They knew they were formidable and didn’t mask it from anyone.

“We’re looking for the owner,” Ava finally said, stepping forward. “Can you tell us where he is?”

“Out. What do you want?”

“Were you here by any chance last night?” Charlie asked.

“Who’s asking?”

Ava held up a badge. “The government. We’re after a fugitive who we’ve traced to this city. Now answer the question.”

The woman eyed all of them carefully. “Not last night. Most of yesterday though.”

“Is it possible you’ve seen this man?” Zari raised her tablet up to show the woman Gary’s government ID photo.

“Why? You here with a job for me or something?”

“No, we just need to know if you have seen him here or anywhere at all,” Ava demanded, taking the tablet from Zari to hold towards the woman. “Have you?”

The woman glanced at it and narrowed her eyes at Ava. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I haven’t seen him,” she snapped. “But if you need help finding him, I am a bounty hunter. I’m more than happy to lend my services to bringing his ass in to you.”

“We don’t need bounty hunters,” Ava said coldly. “Thanks for your help.”

“Do bounty hunters have cards?” Charlie asked before they could leave. “Just in case I need to call in your services.”

The woman walked over to the bar, grabbed a napkin and pen, and scribbled down a series of numbers.

“Thanks,” Charlie grinned, taking the napkin and tucking it into their pocket.

               Sara still felt the woman’s eyes on them as they walked back to the elevator. Ava’s phone buzzed as soon as the doors shut. When she pulled it out, Sara noticed her girlfriend looked upset, but she shook it off as she typed out a response. Zari was holding the tablet close to her chest, a thoughtful expression on her face. Charlie had pulled out the napkin and was studying the number.

“She was lying about seeing Neron,” Zari finally said. “I’m sure of it.”

“Me too,” Charlie nodded. “So, police station now?”

* * *

 

“So how do we get back to the Waverider?

Nora shrugged and sipped her coffee. “Well, we can’t exactly call since we don’t have phones, and I don’t know their numbers.”

“Johnny doesn’t even carry a phone,” Des sighed. “All we have is Linda’s number, but I don’t want to pull her into this. It’s not worth putting a target on her back for Neron.”

“But at least we know that he’s nearby after last night,” Nora reminded him. “Not that I want to run into him anytime soon.”

“That makes two of us,” Des stopped and did a double take at the curly haired man who walked past the window. “Unless we have something to fight him so I can hold my own without wanting to vomit. Right now, he’s probably corrupting something into hate and fear.”

“Is that what he did with you?”

Des nodded. “Yeah. Right now, he’s been wanting souls. That’s currency in hell, so the more souls he gets-”

“-the more power and status a demon has in hell,” Nora finished. “That’s probably why the Devil lives in LA, and why Neron might want to come out here. He needs power for whatever his plan is.”

“And if he succeeds, he’ll be one of the most powerful demons in existence. Maybe more than the Devil.”

Nora looked over at him. “What is Neron planning to do?”

Des swallowed and told her.

Once he was done, Nora turned pale. “We need to stop him before it’s too late.”

“And see if we can pull Neron out of Gary,” Des added. “I hope Neron’s got him pushed to the back of his mind, but I doubt he’s going to be that lucky.”

“Me too. I didn’t know Gary as well as Ava or the Legends. He could be annoying and awkward whenever I met him. But he was always kind to me, even if I wasn’t to him. He’s got a good heart.”

“Seems too noble for his own good if he took Johnny’s place,” Des smiled. “Hopefully I get the chance to meet the real him. He’s the reason Johnny’s alive right now.”

“But he is in jail right now,” Nora reminded him, draining her cup. “Along with Mick and Ray.”

“Then we need to track him down before Neron does,” Des murmured. “He’s going to want to rub in his victory. He’s a petty asshole.”

Nora’s lips quirked a little at that. “Well, we still have to get them out, and what we have on us cannot be enough for bail.”

“I wasn’t exactly thinking of doing it legally,” Des admitted. “I know you’re a witch. I’ve got an ancestor who passed magic down the line to me. What do you say to combining forces?”

She grinned. “I like the way you think.”

* * *

 

               Neron watched gleefully as two cops began brawling on the sidewalk outside of the precinct. As a crowd started to gather around them, he slipped through the doors into the station. A pen exploded all over a man in a suit who held the second door open for him. With each step, he spread a little more chaos around. People began to shout at each other or fight like the two officers outside. Someone swore about hot coffee in a break room. Papers spilled out of overloaded files onto the floor as he made his way to the desk of a certain detective.

“Detective Decker,” Neron greeted as she glanced up at him. “How have you been?”

“Better,” she muttered. “But I did find John Constantine and his associates last night. They’re in custody now.”

“Yes, Lucifer told me that this morning,” Neron explained, picking a thread off his jacket. “He seemed upset though. Is there trouble between the two of you?”

“That is none of your business. Is there something else I can help you with?”

She was starting to get frustrated, which was good for him. “I’m just following up, although there is something you can do for me. I need to have a word with those three men who you brought in last night.”

A man on the other side of the room suddenly snapped his head up towards him as Chloe shook her head. “I can’t do that, even if you did tip me off about Constantine. I’m actually about to go talk to one of them about charges in Central City right now.”

“You know, if you need any assistance with it,” Neron purred, accidentally knocking a file off the desk. “Oops.”

“It’s fine,” Chloe bent down at the same time as he did to put the papers back together. His hand brushed against hers while doing so. The contact burned and he jerked his hand away quickly.

“Hand was asleep,” he grinned when she frowned at him. “But I really can help you. I mean, Lucifer hasn’t shown up to help. I know it’s because you two are on the outs and broke up, but still you think he’d show some loyalty instead of running off when things get rough.

“He…what?”

Neron covered his mouth with a hand to make his smile. “I’ve said too much, you should probably forget about that.”

“I said one thing…” Chloe muttered. “Look, I have an interrogation to do. Dan over there can help you if you have anything else.”

               Neron watched the detective stalked off, speaking briefly to the man who’d been watching him. She then walked somewhere with another officer, likely in the direction of the holding cells. The other man, who was probably Dan, still looked at him cautiously. Neron flashed a winning smile and sauntered over to him. This one looked pretty and stupid…oh he’d be easy. Not to mention he could smell the desire to be better wafting off him. It wasn’t as pathetic as Gary’s had been, but it was still something.

**“Don’t hurt him.”**

“Shut up and stay down,” Neron hissed under his breath. He ran a nail against the exposed flesh sticking out of his sleeve before setting his sights on Dan. “Hi there.”

“Hey. Dan Espinoza. I was told you wanted to visit someone in custody?”

“That’s right,” Neron beamed. “See, we have some…shared history. I’m concerned for his wellbeing, not to mention that of his associates. I just want to see how they’re holding up.”

Dan grimaced. “Yeah, you haven’t been the only one. Unfortunately, I can’t let you speak with any of them right now. Even if I could, then you wouldn’t get anything out of coming here.”

“Oh, I think I would,” he purred, setting his hand on Dan’s shoulder. “So, Dan, it was? What do-“

Before he could go on, Chloe Decker stormed back into the room. “Dan, what did you do?”

“Chloe-“

“Why didn’t you tell me they got bail?!”

The negative energy rolling off her…he could use so much of it and make it consume her, but Lucifer liked her too much. He’d have to play his cards carefully with her. “Who made bail?”

“John Constantine and the two men I brought in with him last night. Dan, how could-“

               Neron’s mouth opened and closed with rage and surprise, tuning out whatever Chloe was yelling about. He had made sure those problems had been dealt with and they’d all be in one place. The rest of the Legends must have bailed them out. In the back of his head, Gary was praising the turn of events with a little laugh. Neron ground his teeth and plunged the weakling into a traumatizing memory.

“I’m sorry, but John Constantine is GONE?” he snarled as someone began to scream at a Lopez.

               The power flickered before popping and fizzling out, plunging the whole station into darkness. While the humans scrambled, Neron made a break in the same direction Chloe had gone earlier. His nails bit into his palms as he strode down the hallway. By the time he reached what he was looking for, he was greeted with a few lowlifes sulking in custody, but no sign of John or the other two. Fuming, he let his true face show in the emergency lighting and roaring before making his way to the exit.

* * *

 

               Ava took the lead once they arrived at the police station. She channeled every ounce of her authority outward as she walked up the steps with Sara and Zari, as Charlie had elected to stay in the car. This was another mission, but it was also a lot more than that. A year and a half ago, she wouldn’t have ever let herself get personal with anything. Now, things were different. She did personal now.

“He has to be here,” Zari muttered as she watched officers clean up broken glass and papers. “It’s a mess.”

               Ava nodded before speaking to one of the officers about where to go regarding bail. They were then directed to the person in charge of processing, only to be told that John, Mick, and Ray had already been bailed out. Apparently, Lucifer Morningstar had been the one to do it a few hours ago. When Ava showed the officer Gary’s photo, they got confirmation that he had been there, but they had only just missed him. To add to the frustrations, there had been a power outage at the station that caused the cameras to go down, so they had no idea where Neron had gone. The trail was cold until they could get back to the Waverider and run another trace on the courier.

“I can’t believe he got away!” Ava shouted as they walked out of the station and a car nearly ran them over. “We were so close!”

“We’ll find him,” Sara assured her, even though she was looking disappointed by the turn of events. “But we need to find the rest of the team too. We don’t even know where Nora and Des are still.”

Fury suddenly filled Ava. “Meanwhile we don’t even know what Neron’s doing here. It’s been two days, that’s plenty of time to get something together. He could get attack tomorrow and none of us would even be ready!”

“And if we did, we’d fight him,” Sara bit back. “Ava, just calm down.”

“No! When you tried to ambush him, you failed! He beat all of you, then went and took one of my agents and used him to attack the Bureau. I should be back there running operations and dealing with that, not running around Los Angeles avoiding calls about Gary’s family. If your team was capable, then none of this would have happened!”

“Oh please,” Zari spat. “Neron was riding Gary for a week and you never noticed anything was wrong. The attack on the Bureau, McNeil’s death, that’s on you!”

“Of course, you’re going to blame me for that,” Ava snarled. “You always have so much blame to throw around. Yourself, the Legends, the Bureau. And you don’t even care about Gary. All you care about is fixing your future. Who are you blaming for that today anyway? The Bureau or the Legends?”

Zari’s hand clenched and the wind turned from a gentle breeze into a strong gust. Ava’s hand moved down towards her side either for her flasher or gun, she didn’t know which to grab.

“Oi, stop it!” Charlie shouted, startling all of them. “What do you think you’re doing right now?”

The wind stopped blowing as Zari blinked in confusion. Ava shook her head as the anger that had been coursing through her evaporated instantly.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “I don’t know what that was. Something just came over me.”

“Me too,” Zari said as Sara nodded. “It just came out.”

“It was Neron.”

               Ava turned with the others to see who had just spoken. Desmond was walking up to them with Nora. Both of them were alive and intact. However, Des looked like he’d been sick somewhere recently. Nora was eyeing him like she was expecting him to keel over at any moment.

“That’s what he does,” Des continued. “I’ve watched it happen enough times to know when it’s him. He messes with your head. Whatever you’re feeling gets corrupted into hate and anger. Everywhere he goes, chaos happens.”

“You’re alive,” Charlie grinned. “I was starting to worry you were both goners.”

“We got a little cut off, no big deal,” Nora shrugged. “If you’re here, I’m guessing you know what happened to the others.”

“We just got out of there,” Ava told them. “They were bailed out this morning by a Lucifer Morningstar. And apparently Neron was there not long before us, but the power went out and we don’t know where he’s gone.”

Zari groaned. “That car that nearly ran us down…that’s when we started fighting. It was going so fast that I didn’t see who was driving. It had to be Neron.”

“Definitely Neron,” Des confirmed. “I realized too late after I felt him. He’s gone now though.”

“Well, at least he doesn’t have the guys,” Sara sighed. “Then again, they’re with that Lucifer guy.”

Nora shuddered. “They’re with the Devil. The actual Devil. That’s just as bad.”

“Yeah,” Ava agreed. “We need to get John and the others back with us.”

Sara nodded. “Ava’s right. As soon as we have them back, then we figure out a plan. Together.”

               Zari worked out getting a ride for them back to where they parked the Waverider. As they waited, Charlie questioned Nora and Des about the club while Sara listened in. Meanwhile, Ava stared at the phone number she’d gotten from Gary’s file to contact his family. They’d already tried to file a missing persons report before another Time Agent interfered and got it taken down, but calls were coming in every day from his parents expressing concern over not hearing anything from him for two weeks. She should have made the call yesterday, but she didn’t know what to say.

How were you supposed to tell someone that a demon had possessed their son?

* * *

 

The ride up in the elevator was silent until they hit the top floor and John finally opened his mouth. “So you’re telling me Neron’s been lying low with you?”

“He came into town yesterday,” Lucifer explained as they entered his penthouse. “Played it up like he was human at first, but I sniffed him out quick and got him to come clean. That murder charge the detective arrested you on was actually him. He wore a trench coat to the crime scene to really sell it. If I didn’t know he was in town, I would have thought it really was you.”

“Wow,” Ray gaped. “And I doubt that guy had a time courier. Do you know where Neron is right now? Or what he’s doing?”

“Possibly out with Maze. They’re both gone and she’s not picking up her phone. Don’t worry though, if anyone can reign in Neron, it’s a demon that he’s got a history with.”

“Oh, totally foolproof,” John muttered sarcastically, his hand dipping into his pocket where Gary’s glasses were. Ray had taken a look at them earlier in the week when John had left them lying out. The glass and frames were too damaged to be worn again, but the glasses overall were still intact. When he could save Gary and get Neron out, then John would find a new pair for him. It was least he could do for Gary taking his place.

“Constantine!”

“Huh?” John snapped his head up, withdrawing his hand. “Sorry, were you being a pretentious bastard again?”

Lucifer narrowed his eyes. “I said that I trust Maze. She’s dealt with Neron before. But the reason I bailed your sorry ass out of jail is to get questions answered. I’m going to start with what brought you and these two gentlemen here, not to mention that other woman from last night.”

“Doing our job,” Mick told him shortly, plunking himself down on one of the couches.

“Mick’s right, but there’s more to the story,” Ray added. “A group of us have been after Neron for a while. We almost got him, but then he pulled a surprise out of his hat at the last minute and took over someone we knew. Then he attacked us again a week ago and we tracked him to LA. This time, we’re going to get him.”

“Oh, so you’re roped more people into your line of work,” Lucifer smirked at John. “You really must have pissed off Neron if he’s taking over someone you shagged.”

“Is that what he told you? Neron’s taken over two people close to me. The first was my boyfriend, then it was-”

“Some pathetic, sorry notch in your bedpost? His words, not mine.”

John clenched his fist and shook his head. “His name is Gary Green. He traded himself for me as Neron’s next host. It’s my fault that Neron’s running around in his body because he came after me in the first place when Neron was tossing me around the room.”

“Hey, quit beating yourself up,” Ray scolded. “We got him out of the Bureau. That’s something right there. You and Nate have got to stop beating yourselves up over this.”

“He didn’t even notice it wasn’t Gary! None of them did!”

“Hang on,” Lucifer cut in. “How long did it take for you to realize this Gary wasn’t really Gary anymore?”

“A week,” Mick answered. “He gave them a crap story about the demon leaving his meatsuit. They all believed it and moved on. We were on a mission and didn’t know he was back until the end of the week. Trenchcoat was the only one who thought the demon was still in him. We went there, exposed him, and now he’s running.”

“And then you followed him here,” Lucifer turned to look at John.

He nodded. “When Des was sent down to Hell, I ran. Now he’s in someone else I care about. I can’t run again.”

“And why,” Lucifer leaned forward. “Is that?”

The words started spilling out before he could stop them. “Because Gary saved me from getting possessed again. And I tried to run again but I couldn’t. I want to save him. Yes, it’s to beat a bloody demon but it’s also because I do still like Gary. I like him a lot more than I realized.”

               Lucifer straightened back up, surprised by what he’d heard. John sighed and glanced over at the other two. Mick was studying him intently, as if he was planning to use what he’d just heard in his next books. There were going to be words after this as to why he shouldn’t even think about doing so. Ray, on the other hand, had a look of understanding on his face. That did make sense given Nora had been Mallus’s host.

“So the desire thing is true after all,” John muttered. “Hoped that was just a myth.”

“Then you would be myth-taken,” Lucifer replied. “But I didn’t expect to hear all of that. Neron’s host is someone you care very much about, isn’t he?”

“He’s not just some host. His name is Gary.”

“We really need to save him,” Ray took over now. “Neron is planning to do something awful. We figured it was why he came to LA until John told us about you. If there’s anything that you have that can help us”-

“Ray, stop,” John held up a hand. “You aren’t making a deal with the devil. I’ll be the one who owes him a favor.”

“A favor from John Constantine?” the Devil smiled. “I’ll accept that.”

“Great, now what’s he up to?”

“Haven’t the faintest,” Lucifer answered, getting a eyeroll from Mick. “But I do know where he is and can find out where he’ll be going. Do either of you have a phone?”

Ray pulled his out and Lucifer took it from him.

“When Neron came into town, I wanted to keep tabs on him, especially since he wasn’t concerned with me being gone from hell. So Maze made sure she could track him with her phone, made sure I could with mine this morning, and now I’m doing the same for Mr. Palmer’s. Also my number’s in there too for you.”

“We won’t need to call again,” John said as he took the phone from Lucifer when he extended it to them. “You know, you do seem awfully keen on helping us go after one of your own, Old Scratch. What’s that all about?”

A cloud passed over the sun and darkened the penthouse as Lucifer’s eyes glowed momentarily. “His inclination to chaos isn’t needed here. He’s causing problems, like bringing you all the way out here.”

“Point taken” John nodded as he turned and headed back to the elevator. “Thanks for the bail. Come on, you two. We’ve got stuff to get before we meet up with Neron again.”


	2. Act Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neron and Maze's night in LA begins as Sara and half the Legends follow his trail while John, Ray, and Mick pick themselves back up to go after Neron again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to get this done last month, but it ended up getting a lot longer than I anticipated and I had real-life responsibilites (fun). Plus writer's block happened. But it's finally here and now I can get the last chapter started.
> 
> Shout out the Constangreen discord and everyone else who has supported me in getting this chapter out. And a shoutout to Stranger Things for giving me an inspiration booster kick.

               The sky was orange as Neron started to prepare himself for the night out with Maze. He’d managed to get himself a nice suit without having to murder anyone in the process. While that was disappointed, he knew there was still going to be plenty more fun tonight. Los Angeles was not experiencing any shortage of criminal or degenerate activity in the slightest.

               As he finished running the comb through his hair, Neron felt an unexpected pressure in his head. Shuddering, he grasped the sides of the sink. Gary was trying to fight back again, but this was different than what had happened in Lux. It was stronger now. Neron lifted his head to look into the mirror as his eyes glowed red. Slowly, he straightened his posture while the reflection in the mirror shifted into a more tired, worn down version of his host.

“I thought you were going to stay down,” Neron hissed. “You were so quiet last week. Why are there problems now? You know what’s going to happen to you if you keep acting up.”

“Because I finally pieced together your plan,” Gary said in the reflection. “And I won’t let it happen, not if I can stop you somehow.”

“Ah, but you can’t,” Neron chuckled. “Gary, you gave yourself over to me and helped me. And I helped you too.”

“Helped me?”

“Oh yes. You always wanted to be stronger, more confident than you were. I took that desire and I made it reality. People aren’t ignoring you now, Gary.”

“Because you butchered McNeil and that clerk,” Gary’s face screwed up. “Why do you have to do this? Why can’t you just do what Maze did? Find your place somewhere and don’t be too wrapped up on world domination?”

“Because this is who I am,” Neron snarled. “I have my plans and they are going to succeed. And if you don’t stay in line while I carry them out, I will make things far worse for you. Your brother isn’t too far away from LA, is he? And your other brother, he’s just gotten back from Thailand. Then there’s also your dad and his husband…such a shame your mother’s gone, I can’t use that on you.”

“You leave them alone!”

“Oh, I will as long as you cooperate,” Neron smirked. “Otherwise what happened to McNeil will be a spa day compared to what I’ll do to your family. So if you want them to remain intact, then stay down, shut up, and just watch the show. Things are going to start getting fun soon.”

“But the Legends are here now. Constantine is going coming for us. He’ll-”

“Us?” Neron laughed and mirror Gary’s face fell. “Two weeks and you think someone’s still going to save you? Didn’t you tell me when you handed over your body that no one cared enough to notice you? That not even John Constantine would be bother with you?”

Gary’s expression morphed into something pathetic.

“The Legends are only here to stop me,” Neron reminded him. “There’s no reason why they’d come for you, is there? They came to stop me, not save you.”

“Maybe so, but they’re still going to win and send you away. And if it means I have to die for it to happen, then I’m going to be taking you with me to hell.”

Neron snarled as he threw his fist at the mirror where Gary’s face was, cracking the glass on impact. The demon then forced him back into the dark corner where he’d been keeping him.

“Stay down and relive some of your worst hits tonight,” Neron ordered, shaking his head. “Don’t make me send you to hell just yet.”

               Gary stayed down as Neron pulled up all the awful memories, drawing strength from the misery. He could steadily feel himself growing stronger as he drove the convertible to Lux. Tonight was going to be good for strengthening himself while having fun with Maze. Hopefully, she would still be willing to go along with his plan. She’d be a good ally and queen if that happened.

Maze was waiting outside the entrance when he pulled up on the curb. “You made it?”

“We have a date,” he teased, taking in her grey and metal dress. Pretty yet practical in a fight. Not to mention there was no telling how many weapons she had stowed away in her dress. “You look nice.”

“I know. So, where to first?”

Neron smiled as she climbed into the car. “Somewhere fun.”

* * *

 

A minute had passed since Zari had taken her turn, and they were still waiting on Ava to make her next move. She didn’t seem very focused on the cards in her left hand, electing instead to stare at a number on her phone.

“Ava,” Nora nudged her elbow.

The director of the Bureau started. “My turn?”

“Yeah,” Zari set down her cards as Charlie sat up from the seats she’d been lying across and took her headphones out. “You still haven’t called Gary’s family about what happened yet, have you?”

“It’s not a call I want to make.”

“Then don’t make it,” Charlie shrugged. “Simple enough. We could get Gary back.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Des told her. “I was barely alive when he left me. Basically ready to move on to what’s next when Gary offered himself up. And the longer Neron’s out, the more time he has to get stronger, which makes Gary weaker.”

“I can’t hold the call off much longer,” Ava told them. “The Bureau has a policy for agents missing on assignments for more than two weeks. A team is sent to their last reported location to sweep for a body and collect any technology not native to their time. The director makes a call to the next of kin reporting that their loved one was sent on a classified ops mission and has not been heard from, but is likely dead.”

“Except we don’t know if Gary’s going to die or not,” Zari murmured. “Taking out Neron might take out Gary too.”

Nora ran a finger over her cards. “That’s if we destroy the body too.”

“That has to be our last resort,” Ava said sternly. “Doing that means we give up completely on saving Gary.”

“If Gary’s even still in there.”

Zari sighed and rubbed her eye. “Not helping, Des.”

“Ava, it’s just Gary,” Charlie said. “He’s just another agent in your Bureau, an annoying one.”

“Maybe so. Yeah, he’s annoying and clumsy and has some boundary issues, but he’s the only one left who I’ve known since I joined the Bureau. But he always means to be kind, and he always treats people like human beings. Gary’s always had my back even when I never asked him to. Now it’s time to show him I have his.”

“Neron’s our mess to clean up though,” Zari said. “You don’t owe Gary a thing.”

“Even so, Neron still took over one of my agents and killed another,” replied Ava as she finally laid down her cards. “I’m in this mess too, and I would have helped even if it wasn’t Gary.”

“We have to be realistic,” Nora shook her head at her cards. “We don’t even know where-”

“He is?” Sara finished the sentence as she entered the bridge. “Actually, we might after Gideon got into the LAPD police scanner. They’ve seen spikes in accidents, public disturbances, all kinds of crime.”

Des stood up. “Neron’s out in the open.”

“Exactly,” Sara nodded. “Are you and Nora up to fight?”

“Made two charms this afternoon so we can get close enough without that pesky demonic connection,” Nora announced. “We’re ready.”

“Good.”

“What about John and the others?” Charlie asked. “They’re still missing.”

“And we don’t know where they are,” muttered Sara. “Since they got bailed out by the Devil, he has them and it could mean Neron is working with Lucifer. If we can corner Neron now, then we might be able to get him to spill where they are.”

“Let’s stop wasting time and go then,” Ava announced. “The longer we stand around here, the farther away he gets.”

* * *

 

“He’s moving!”

John sat upright as Ray came running over to him with his phone in hand. “What’s that, big man?”

“The tracker on Neron’s phone, it’s finally moving!” Ray scooted into the booth where John was sitting. Across from them, Mick lowered a book he’d nicked from the coffeehouse’s shelf to listen. “See, look!”

John grabbed the phone and looked at the screen, smiling when he saw the dot slowly moving. At least they’d found the bastard. For the past few hours, they’d been at a coffeeshop, waiting for any sign of him moving somewhere. Until now, there had been nothing.

“Right, let’s go,” John stood up and climbed over Ray to get out of the booth. “We can’t let him slip away.”

“Shouldn’t we alert Sara and the others first?” asked Ray as he and Mick followed him. “The last time we went after Neron, he got inside your head.”

“And I’m not making that mistake again,” John snapped back as he pushed the door open and strode out onto the street. “We just need to follow that tracker now.”

“And then we find the dweeb,” Mick muttered, catching the door as it started to swing shut on him. “We’re gonna need a car.”

“Oh, I can use my app to get-”

“Takes too long,” Mick told Ray as he moved to the front. “I can get one faster.”

John followed as Mick took them down a few streets, slipping his hand into the pocket of his trench coat to pull out Gary’s glasses.

Ray glanced over at him. “So you got deep with Lucifer when he asked you about Gary.”

“Don’t even start getting all sappy on me.”

“All I was going to say was that I think it’s sweet. You agreed to owe the Devil a favor for the tracking of Gary’s phone because you care about him that much. But what do we do when we find him?”

“I’m getting the demon out of him,” John answered. “Look, I can send any old demon to hell, but Neron? He can never come back ever. I won’t give him the chance after I shove him in the deepest darkest hole I can find. Spell like that requires a lot of energy. That’s why I went shopping this afternoon, to get something together to give myself that boost.”

“Aw, you’d do all that for Gary?”

“According to Sara, you stole a jumpship with Damien Darhk, saved Nora from losing herself to Mallus, and then helped her escape from the Time Bureau by passing over-”

“Okay, I get it,” Ray held up his hands in surrender. “But I never carried anything of hers with me when she was possessed.”

John dropped the glasses back in the pocket and pulled his hand away from sharply. “We still need a car.”

An engine started and they turned to see Mick rolling down the passenger window. “Get in.”

“Aw, we just got bailed out this morning, Mick,” whined Ray.

“Oh, you’d steal a car if Nora Darhk’s life was on the line,” John scowled as he climbed inside.

“…point taken.”

* * *

 

“You promised fun. This isn’t even a decent club.”

“I never said it was,” Neron purred. “But I’m certain we’ll still have our fun here.”

               Maze rolled her eyes as she and Neron moved through the humans dancing and bouncing to the beat of the music. Sweat, alcohol, and perfume of so many human bodies cogged the air. Lights flashed different colors, bathing the two demons in blues, reds, greens, and yellows. Some humans were lurking in dark corners, exchanging drugs for money or getting extremely intimate. It reminded Maze of the Flesh Factory where some soul traders operated out of.

“You promised me a night like old times,” she shouted to Neron. “Where is it?”

“Take a look up at the top by those tables.”

               She followed the direction his finger was pointing to spot of group clustered on the balcony. It took a moment before she recognized them, or at least placed the mug shots. All of them belonged to one of the more despicable gangs of LA. Each of them was wanted for something from aggravated assault to human trafficking to murder. She’d tried to hunt them down last night but had come up with a dead end. Now they were in this backwater craphole of a nightclub.

“Now you see it, Maze,” said Neron as she turned back to him. “I didn’t bring you here for overpriced and watered-down booze.”

“What do you want, a thank you?”

“Hey, there’s more than that crew who are guilty. Just take a look around you at all the people deserving of punishment that we can give them. Or they can do it to themselves.”

               He had a point once she really started to look around the club. An unattended drink was getting something added to it. A soul in the corner had their denials ignored. Two bouncers leading a couple towards an unmarked door. LA was not a place for saints, but some sins could not be left unpunished.

“So what do you say?” Neron asked as red, then yellow light flashed on his face. “Up for reliving the good old days?”

Maze slipped on her most twisted smile. “The ones upstairs are mine. But save some down here for me.”

His eyes glowed red. “No promises.”

               One of the girls by the bar suddenly smashed a glass over the head of a man lurking nearby before wrapping her hands around his neck. A brawl started on the dance floor as Maze made a move to the balcony. She’d had the good sense to arm herself before leaving with Neron, although she didn’t expect to be pulling weapons out so soon. She wasn’t going to complain too much about it as long as it got her close to him.

“Move, doll,” one of the targets growled as she approached their table.

The tempo of the music accelerated before she grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into the table.

* * *

 

               Neron watched Maze descend into the fight with her bounties above. On the ground level, most of the patrols were fighting each other or trying to escape. He dodged a man throwing another onto the floor and pummeling him before another woman leapt on him and started punching him. Whistling to himself, Neron slipped through the fights to the main entrance to pick up the stamp that had been used for the club that night. He swapped it out for the original stamp while pocketing the one with his seal. He’d stuck it there earlier in the daytime to make sure he could get souls as soon as possible. His power had been steadily growing through the night, so he was getting them just like he’d planned.

               He wasn’t sure how long it was before he started hearing the sirens. As soon as they went off, people scatter and rush towards the exits. Neron scanned the crowds for Maze before he watched her leap down from the balcony onto the stage. Running with her, they made it out the back exit where they’d first entered. Maze lead them away from the police cars and towards the next block where they’d parked.

“That…was a rush,” she laughed. “I can’t remember the last time I ran away from the cops. Forgot how much fun it could be.”

“The night’s not over yet, Maze. Could get a chance to do it again.”

“Hm. Good enough. Any other bounties I’ve been searching for going to pop up tonight?”

“Potentially. Are you ready for more?”

A smirk crept across her face. “Where to next?”

* * *

 

“We’re too late,” Ava murmured as they saw the flashing lights. “Stay here, I’m going in to talk to someone.”

“Be careful,” warned Sara as the director got out of the car.

               Ava nodded and shut the door, staring ahead of her at the mess. She weaved through the onlookers, flashing an FBI badge when she had to. Since the Time Bureau wasn’t public knowledge, so all agents were given FBI badges that could be changed to correspond to the era they were in. There were some prototypes of a Time Bureau badge that could double as an FBI badge, but they weren’t making any replacements for agents soon.

“You,” she addressed the cop who approached her as she crossed the police tape, flashing the badge. “What happened here?”

“Fight broke out. Sounds like mass hysteria of some sort.”

“Mass hysteria,” Ava frowned as a black bag was rolled out of the club. “Anything else?”

“No. What’s the FBI doing here?”

“Searching for a person of interest,” Ava began as her phone rang. “Hold on- Hello?”

“Aves, we gotta go,” Sara told her. “Zee and Charlie are listening to the 911 call center. They just got a call in about two people attacking someone, and guess who matches the description of one suspect?”

“Gary- Neron, I mean,” Ava shook her head. “I’m coming back.”

“Ma’am,” the cop said behind her. “Your person of interest-”

“I have an updated location, I have to go. Thank you though.”

               She ducked back under the tape and ran through the crowd to hop back into the car. Sara’s hands were tapping the wheel while Des held a phone towards the middle of the car and Nora spoke. Zari and Charlie were back on the Waverider to hold down the fort and because the car they were borrowing could only seat four. Even though Sara had offered to ride what she referred to as ‘college-style’, Charlie had suggested that some stay behind in the event their missing Legends returned.

“Ava’s back now, but keep us updated,” Nora was saying before hanging up the phone as Sara drove them away from the club.

“So Neron found a friend?”

“Seems like it,” Nora sighed. “Not sure why he’s beating up random people though. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

“But the club does,” Des jerked a thumb in the direction they’d come from. “He wants souls, and there’s plenty he could have struck a deal with in there.”

“Makes sense,” Sara agreed. “Souls are power, right? He’s probably charging up for whatever he’s going to pull next.”

Silence settled over everyone until they stopped at a red light, then Des opened his mouth. “She’s right. LA has so many people who he can easily go after. Everyone here wants something, which makes them vulnerable. A nightclub like that one is the perfect place for finding desperate souls to strike deals with.”

“But not even Neron can get to that many people,” Ava murmured. “Following his chaos puts us on his trail, but it also keeps us a step behind. We need to be waiting for him before he gets anyone else.”

Sara nodded as the light turned green. “Nora, call Zari and Charlie. See if they can access the street cameras to find Neron or his friend. Or even John and the others.”

“Lucifer could be holding them hostage for all we know,” Des murmured, fingering the charm hanging from his neck. “But if anyone can give the Devil a run for his money, it’s Johnny.”

“Ray might have him beat,” Nora’s lips twitched into a smile. “He can nice his way out of anything. But are we even certain Lucifer’s working with Neron? Des, we met his therapist-”

Ava spun around in the seat. “Sorry, the Devil has a therapist?”

“Yeah, it threw us too. We don’t even know anything about it but going to therapy is a good thing. Why throw any progress away the second a demon comes into town?”

“I don’t know,” Ava rubbed her temples. “I just want to get Neron contained right now. He’s taken out two of my agents, I don’t want him to take out anyone else, especially not you.”

“That’s a good first step,” Sara smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. “And right now, that’s all we need.”

“Yeah,” Ava nodded, squeezing back.

* * *

 

“I still wouldn’t have minded killing that one.”

Maze balanced the point of her knife on the dashboard. “Believe me, I wanted to. But stringing him up brought us enough attention already. We had to run.”

“We couldn’t just let a few intestines spill out?” pouted Neron.

“No, but don’t worry. When the police find out what he’s guilty of, he’ll be going away for a long time. The inmates will take care of the rest of his punishment.”

“Yeah,” Neron sighed. “But we could have made him suffer longer.”

“Humans get things over with too quickly So is that all you had planned?”

“Tired already?” he taunted.

Maze scowled. “Bored. I’m thinking about pinning your hand to the wheel for fun.”

“I wouldn’t say no, but he will start screaming again,” Neron tapped the side of his head. “Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon enough.”

“Another filthy club?”

The car stopped at a red light. Purple and yellow from a nearby sign glowed behind the other demon as he turned to face her. “How do you feel about illegal fights?”

Maze leaned back into her seat. “What kind of humans will be there?”

“The worst kind. The ones who play with human lives, then sleep soundly at night. But when they turn on each other, it’s especially satisfying.”

“I can remember,” Maze murmured as the light turned green. It hadn’t been the first time that she and Neron had gone after people like that. “Take me there.”

* * *

 

“He’s stopped now,” Ray held out the phone through the car window to John. “He’s going to be there for a while.”

“Good. We just missed him at that club,” John said as he flicked his lighter closed. “This has got to be the slowest pump in the whole city.”

“Haircut won’t let me steal another car,” grumbled Mick. “I didn’t know it needed gas when I stole it.”

“Look, we’re lucky that John switched out the license plates, but it’s still a stolen car. Someone’s going to be missing it!”

“And they’ll find it. Eventually.”

               John tuned out their bickering and stepped towards the front of the car. Leaning against the hood, he pulled the broken glasses out of his pocket again. Smudges from his thumbs were visible now on the lenses. At this point, it was becoming habit to pull the glasses out and think of Gary. He couldn’t eve recall how many times today he’d looked at them when the others weren’t watching him.

               He’d had his guard down at Lux. Tonight would not see a repeat of that mistake. This time, he was prepared and ready for a fight. When they got close enough, he’d perform the spell to give him that extra bit of strength. Provided that Neron hadn’t been smart with his time and didn’t collect too many souls, John could send the demon to the deepest, darkest pit of Hell. That would be enough to end the madness while sparing Gary’s life. The alternative way to defeat Neron was…

No, nope. He was not going down that train of thought.

Something hit the hood, making John jump before he saw Ray. “Gas is full, Neron’s still in one place. Ready?”

“Yeah. Rory, you better break the speed limit getting there.”

“I’m gonna.”

“But road safety-”

“Can stick it, Haircut.”

* * *

 

“They’ve stopped there for awhile now,” Charilie explained while watching the camera feed of the dark alley. “Someone didn’t want anyone else to see this place. We’re the only ones who can see it, the city’s got nothing.”

“How are you seeing it then?”

“Because we have a Zari and they don’t. Address is being sent to you right now, and Zee and I will be on our way.”

“Charlie, we need someone on the ship. If he moves again, we have to know.”

“I’m bringing a phone with me, Zee’s already gotten it into the traffic cameras. Besides, he’s got his lady friend with him. You’re going to need all the help you can get.”

Sara sighed. “Fine, but you’re going to have to find your own way to get here.”

“I’ve got it covered,” Charlie smirked. “Oh, and we’ve been seeing people going in fancy clothes, so you might wanna clean up first.”

“We’ll figure that out. See you there.”

They hung up the phone as Zari came down into the cargo bay. Charlie gazed at the sight of her in the red dress with her hair pulled back. “Stunning.”

“Thanks. Ready for this?”

“Totally,” Charlie tossed a helmet to Zari. “Him setting the rogue beings on us nearly got me killed. I’ve been wanting revenge for that even before he body-hopped Gary. Now put that on.”

“What for?”

Charlie led Zari out of the ship to show off the motorcycle. “Gotta keep that brilliant brain protected.”

Zari bit back a grin. “Do I want to know where you got that?”

“Probably not, now hop on. We’ve got demons to meet.”

“And send to hell,” Zari added. She barely had time to grab onto Charlie before they were off.

* * *

 

               The underground fight club Neron had discovered during the day was the complete opposite of the first place he and Maze had been to. Everyone was in dresses or tuxes as waiters moved around with trays. The lighting was dim save for a few spotlights on a caged arena where two men were fighting. People were either talking to each other on the floor or balcony or watching the fight. Cheers went up now and then whenever a nasty blow was landed.

               Despite the glamor the club offered, Neron knew the souls within these walls were no better than any others they’d encountered that night. They were just as greedy, desperate, and corrupt, except they had greater material wealth. You had to pay a pretty penny to get into here, and Neron had found a way to get that for him and Maze. He’d also wrangled his way into buying all the souls who were in here tonight. So many new souls were coming into his possession and he felt his powers growing steadily.

“I’ve seen humans doing this before,” Maze remarked on the fight as a waiter brought them their drinks. “When Lucifer first summoned me from Hell, he and Amenadiel were looking into a place just like this.”

“Did you like it?”

“Eh, would have liked to fight in it, but they beat me to it. Then Lucifer bought the place and it became Lux.”

Neron glanced around, finding a soul he hadn’t yet claimed. “You still want to fight? Because I can make that happen.”

“How?”

“I might have come by earlier and put you up for a fight. Figured you wouldn’t turn down a chance to beat a low-life human.”

“I only punish the guilty,” Maze muttered while sipping her drink. “You should know that, we used to do it together.”

Neron rotated his glass on the table they stood by as the larger of the two fighters began to viciously pummel his opponent. “They’re all guilty of something. But I happen to know that the one you’re facing had killed several times. He has guilt.”

Her eyes were drifting over to the arena, so he kept on goading her. “Go on, you can’t have worn yourself out already. You don’t have to wait for him to die to punish him.”

In one swift motion, Maze downed the rest of her drink. “Fine. Maybe I’ll actually get a real challenge tonight.”

“Maybe you will, but you don’t want to be late for it.”

               Maze smirked and slid away from the table towards the arena. Neron watched her go speak to a person taking bets as a slow smile spread across his face. He’d been unsure if she’d still be the Maze he remembered when he first found her again, but she had proved that nothing had changed. She could be trusted, or at least as much as a demon could trust another. Maybe she’d even be-

               A sudden sensation of being watching crept over him. Slowly, Neron turned to observe the rest of the room surrounding him. On the balcony, he caught a flash of blonde disappearing behind a man whose aura screamed douchey scumbag lawyer. It could have been nothing at all, just paranoia.

But if the Legends had decided to follow him…

* * *

 

               From the balcony, Ava could see everything in the club. Sara was over by the betting table on the ground floor. Underneath her, Des had parked himself by a wall. Nora was over near an exit. None of them stood out thanks to the outfits that Nora and Des had glamoured for them. Neron wouldn’t see them coming.

“Ava?”

She turned to see Zari standing at the top of the stairs in a red dress. “Zari, you’re here.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t easy,” the hacker explained as she approached her. “Charlie came too. They’re down below with Sara.”

“That’s good news,” sighed the director. “I’m still looking for…”

Ava trailed off as she spotted Gary’s body standing by a table. “Neron.”

“I see him,” Zari murmured. “And he’s alone too.”

“I’ve got eyes on him,” Ava alerted the others through her comm. “He’s on the ground. We have a shot for an ambush. No one is nearby him.”

“For now. Still, we can-”

               Whatever Zari was going to say was cut off as Neron looked up directly at them. Even with the distance, Ava could still see the demon smirking at them as he raised the glass in his hand up to them. Any hope they’d had of ambushing him went right out the window. But that didn’t mean they had to leave. They could still attack him and find out where the rest of the Legends had gone.

“He saw us,” Ava’s mouth felt dry as she pressed her comm again. “Hey, Sara, Nora, Des, he’s seen us.”

“Bollocks.”

“What Charlie said,” scowled Sara. “We’re not going to surprise him now, but we need to go through on our attack soon.”

“She’s right,” Nora agreed as new fighters came into the arena. “But there’s too many people in here. How are they going to react to this? We need to get them out first.”

“And how do we do that?”

“Des, if I knew, I’d have done it by now.”

A moment passed as the fight began between a mountain of a man and a dark-haired woman who looked more like a guest than a contender.

“You know, there are alarms in here,” Charlie spoke up suddenly. “People hear a loud enough sound in a place that ain’t real legal, they’ll run.”

“So will Neron.”

“He’s a demon, he’ll like the chaos. It’ll distract him. All we need is a little spark to set everything off though.”

Nora snorted softly. “I’ve got this. No one panic though.”

“What are you planning on doing?” Ava asked as she heard something crackle on the other end. “Nora?”

The fire alarms started blaring and the sprinklers started to spit water.

* * *

 

               As the sprinklers went off above during the alarms, guests began to turn and run for their lives. Neron remained where he was standing, teeth now grinding together. The Legends were indeed here, and they were trying to isolate him by driving away the humans so they could surround him. Whatever they wanted to do here tonight wouldn’t be successful. He had enough souls, enough power to hold onto this host and kill those tried to take it away.

**“NO!”**

“Oh yes,” Neron laughed out loud, now all alone as the last guest ran past him. “And to think, if you’d never offered yourself up to me, you’d never have to watch yourself murder them.”

He turned in time to see Ava and Zari gliding down on a current of air. Sara, Nora, Charlie, and Des were approaching on the ground. Nora flicked her hands as Charlie shifted, dropping all the glamours save for Zari and extinguishing the fire in the corner. They were ready for a fight.

“So,” sneered the demon. “Shall we begin?”

* * *

 

“Almost there!” Ray shouted as Mick yanked the wheel to the right.

John unclipped his seat beat, ready to jump out at a moment’s notice. He’d already performed the spell on himself while they were on the last block, so he was ready to go. Banishing Neron while keeping Gary’s body and soul intact was going to be a tough one.

“Take it easy on the next-” he started before his face smacked into the back of Ray’s seat when Mick slammed the brakes. “Hey!”

“I’m not going to hit a person!” Mick shouted, gesturing to a woman wobbling past them in high heels and a hot pink dress. “Haircut’s already pissed at me.”

John tuned out Ray arguing back to see dozens of people, all dressed up, fleeing for their lives. He narrowed his eyes as he found where they were running from.

“We go on foot from here.”

* * *

 

               Neron struck out telekinetically first before they could fight, sending them flying backwards. Zari was the first back up on her feet, sending a wind that smacked him over an abandoned table. Once he was back on his feet, Sara flung two knives at him. The first sliced his arm, but Neron stopped the second in midair two inches from his chest with a raised hand. He grabbed it by the handle and after a split-second hesitation, threw it back at Sara, who ducked as it whistled past her head.

“Sara Lance,” Neron taunted, but his voice was female suddenly. “Is this all you’re made of?”

               Des watched shock flicker over the captain’s face before it hardened to determination. Whoever’s voice Neron had just used must have been someone important to her. When Neron had approached him, Des remembered he’d used the voice of a favorite uncle who’d died nearly a decade ago. This was a tactic to catch victims off guard and then manipulate them. He wanted Sara angry and distracted.

Sara flicked open her staves. “I take it you’re not going to leave that body if we ask you nicely?”

“Nah, I happen to like this one. People don’t suspect much of him. Besides, he’s cute, like a little pet.”

Ava now drew out her own baton.

“Well, if that’s how it’s going to be,” Neron scoffed again in the woman’s voice. “So be it.”

               The couple and the demon ran at each other. Charlie grabbed a wine bottle and smashed the end over a chair before rushing into the fight as well. Des spotted Zari helping Nora up from where she’d been against a wall. He quickly ran over to them while Neron was distracted.

“We need to restrain him,” he told Nora, who was grimacing a little and rubbing her head. “Ready?”

“What are you two going to do?” Zari asked, throwing her hand out to divert a broken glass away from Charlie’s neck.

“We’re going to trap him,” Nora told her. “When I tell you to, get the others away from him.”

               Zari nodded as Nora took a deep breath and started to chant. Des joined her, his voice blending with hers to sound like one. When a golden ring started to form around Neron’s feet, they nodded towards Zari. With her totem, the hacker wrapped tendrils of air around their allies and pulled them back. Neron realized what was happening too late, roaring and trying to leave the circle. He bounced right off it and his true face surfaced in anger. It still sent a shudder down Des’s spine, but the charm was working and he wasn’t feeling sick.

“Let me out!” bellowed Neron, pounding on the barrier.

“Like we would even dare,” a familiar voice came from behind. “And here I thought I was going to have to do all the work myself.”

Des spun around, smiling when he saw John, Mick, and Ray walking down towards them.

* * *

 

“We thought Neron had you!” Nora told Ray once she’d hugged him before pushing him back. “We were worried!”

“We got arrested because of him,” Mick grumbled, glaring at Neron. “The Devil let us out, gave us a tracker for his phone, and now Trench Coat owes him one.”

Ava looked at John. “You made a deal with the Devil?”

“I just own Lucifer a favor, that’s it and I’ll deal with it later. Right now, our problem’s right there.”

He pointed to Neron and the ring, which was showing shadowy cracks. “That’s not going to hold him much longer. I have to get him out of Gary now while I have the chance.”

“You send stuff to hell all the time,” Sara shrugged. “This isn’t any different except it’s Gary.”

“He’s not going to the doorstep. I’m sending him to the deepest, darkest pit there is.”

“Oooo, I’m so scared.”

“Shut up!” Ava snarled, then turned to John. “Do it.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” he told her before turning to Nora and Des. “As soon as that ring’s down, I need you two to hold him in place. Don’t touch him, just use your magic. If this goes badly, the rest of you need to be ready.”

Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Will it?”

“Who knows, but I’m not taking chances.”

“Awww, that’s how you’re preparing them for death?” Neron laughed. “Is that what you told Astra? And the last Gary? Des, did he tell you that too? I can’t recall.”

John ground his teeth, refusing to let the demon get the best of him. The containment ring around Neron was ready to break, which was not a good sign. Nora and Des’s combined efforts should have been more than strong enough to hold Neron. If he was breaking through, then that meant he was getting more powerful.

“Are we going to get on with this or not?” Neron slammed his hands against the barrier as the golden ring finally dissipated.

               As it fell, John saw Neron watching him, but it didn’t really feel like Neron. His eyes looked different, almost as if they showed feeling. John tilted his head before he saw the tear trickle down out of his right eye. That wasn’t Neron crying, but Gary. He was still trapped within his body with Neron, just not at the controls. If everything worked, he’d be back there in no time.

“Hang in there, Gary,” John ordered as Des and Nora worked their magic and held Neron in place. “Just a little longer.”

He knew the exorcism better than the alphabet, repeating it over and over as Neron struggled and roared. Ray was looking on in pity. Nora was grimacing and Des looked strained by the effort. Still, he kept going despite losing confidence.

Suddenly, a desperate cry came out of Gary’s mouth. “John!”

“Gary?” John stopped chanting. “Gary, is that you?”

“It’s me!” Gary sobbed, falling to his knees. “He’s still in me. You just weakened him and I pushed him down, but he’s fighting. I can’t hold him; he’s going to come back!”

“Just hang on, Gary,” Ava stepped forward. “We’re going to get him out.”

But Gary shook his head. “You-you can’t. He’s too powerful now. You can’t get him out alone. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

“Gary-”

“He’s done things and it’s all my fault! I wanted to be a hero. I just wanted to save John, but I made everything worse! I made it so much worse!”

“You never had to do that!” John shouted as he stepped closer despite the warning Sara called out. “You should have just let him take me instead of giving yourself over! I don’t deserve to be saved, Gary! You should know that!”

“Yes, you do! I told you, there’s…” Gary shuddered. “There’s a whole Bureau of Time Agents, but one John Constantine. And- and you and I know what you have to do to stop this.”

“NO!” Ava yelled, stepping forward with Sara. “Gary, I swear, we’re going to- oh my god, your hands!”

“It’s nothing,” Gary shuddered again as he tried to hide the burns and scrapes on them. “Nothing compared to what he’s going to do! You can’t let him win. Don’t send him to hell! You have to kill him!”

“What’s Neron going to do?” demanded Sara. “Tell us, Gary!”

“He’s gonna…no,” Gary’s eyes rolled into the back of his head before he screamed. “No, no, no! Make it stop! Stop! It hurts! Stop, please!”

“He’s coming back!” Zari yelled.

“Everyone get back and get ready!” Sara ordered, her arms coming out in front of Ava.

“Gary!” John shouted as the man began to shudder. “Come on, Gary, fight it!”

“He can’t!” Des shook his head. “What do we do?”

“Dweeb said to kill ‘em!” Mick lifted the heat gun.

Charlie stepped in front of the gun. “Mick, no!”

“He nearly killed you!”

“Rory’s right, Charlie,” Zari nodded. “And you heard Gary.”

“But he’s still in there!” Ray protested. “You all saw him! You could hear him!”

“How certain are you that we just heard Gary when Neron fooled the Bureau for a week?!” Nora shrieked.

“Oh, you ask the good questions,” came a chuckle. “I won’t tell you, and you’re not getting an encore. You don’t have to hear crying, blubbering Gary ever again.”

               The arguing had distracted John from Neron climbing back up against Nora and Des’s magic. The veins in his face were turning back as he fought to raise his hands, making those familiar with Mallus gasp. John opened his mouth to start the exorcism again, but Neron swiped his hand out.  He was thrown backwards while the rest of the Legends prepared to go on the offensive. Nora and Des still tried to hold the spell, but they were outmatched.

“Such a shame, Johnny,” Neron taunted as glasses started to shatter all around the room. “Maybe you could have forced me out if you’d gotten to me a few hours ago. But now, too late. I’ve been stocking up on my souls, and you know what that means.”

Pieces of glass rose up to form a spinning vortex above his head. Nora reacted immediately, dropping her spell to shield her eyes. Des didn’t give in and kept it up to hold Neron. The demon smiled at his former host as two spikes of glass left the cloud and shot towards Des and Nora.

“No!” Ray shouted.

* * *

 

               Des shut his eyes, waiting for the sting of the glass, but it never came. What came was the weight of the cord holding his anti-demon charm falling away from his neck. He snapped his eyes open, first seeing Ray on the ground with a shard of glass in his shoulder, then John hurtling two fireballs at Neron, and finally his charm on the ground. Too late he realized that he was exposed as Neron looked at him with glowing eyes.

Then he wasn’t in a trashed room, but the bar where he had met John in New Orleans all by himself.

“Johnny?” Des called. “Nora? Captain Lance? Hello?”

“Oh Dezzy,” his own voice chuckled behind him, making Des whirl around to see himself sitting on the counter. “You really fell for that hook, line, and sinker.”

Other him’s face shifted and Des felt sick. “What did you do? Where are they?”

“How should I know?” Neron yawned. “I’m still looking but you’ve been getting too complacent. So I thought making you think you’d been rescued would recharge your misery.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t real, Dezzy. I’m still inside you. In fact, I never left. The Legends, Johnny, LA, it was all an illusion. They were never here, and you were never there.”

“No,” Des shook his head, struggling to remember how to breathe.

“Yes,” Neron nodded. “You know where you are. Where you’ve been this whooole time…in HELL!”

“NO! NO! NO!”

* * *

 

“What did you do to him?” John roared as Des screamed and writhed on the ground. “What did you do?”

“Eh, he just thinks he’s back in Hell,” Neron shrugged. “Maybe he’ll be fine.”

               Ava spared a look in Des’s direction as he grabbed his head and started wailing. She’d witnessed Neron’s power back at the Bureau and right here, but this was more than some telekinetic attack. Maybe he hadn’t used it then, or he’d gained it with more souls. Whatever it was, he was making Des think he was somewhere else. Ava couldn’t let herself or Sara fall victim to that.

“And he’s not the only one I can toy-”

Without thinking, she stepped in front of Sara with a gun. “Touch any of them and I’ll do what I couldn’t do at the Bureau.”

“Would you?” the face she’d long associated with loyalty and annoyance sneered at her. “Because a week ago, I could rip apart an entire agent and get away without a scratch. How much can I get away with this time before you shoot me?”

“I’ll do it this time,” Ava threatened, eyeing the rotating circle of glass. “Gary told us to kill you, so I’ll do it.”

“You can’t!” John shook his head at her while Zari and Charlie ran forward to drag Des towards safety. “Don’t do it, Sharpie.”

“Well, she can do whatever she wants,” Neron groaned. “You don’t control her. But you do know killing me…means you kill Gary too. But that’s no huge loss to you, right?”

Ava took too long to lie. “No.”

Neron smirked. “You can’t.”

“Just walk back, Ava,” Sara told her. “You don’t have to do it.”

“True,” Neron’s voice changed to a rough English accent. “None of you would, except Killer here.”

John stiffened, fear flashing in his eyes momentarily. This was someone he knew, that was clear.

“Wherever he goes, he brings death and destruction,” Neron continued to speak in that voice. “And he knows it. You’re a damned man, and you’re going to drag everyone you touch down with you to suffer forever.”

John was shaking with rage now as fire blazed to life in his hands.

“Oh, did I strike a nerve?”

               Ava thought about firing the gun at Neron’s shoulder, but John threw his fireballs first. Some of the glass shot down to form a sort of shield in front of him. When Neron raised his hand again, Zari flung hers out, air currents gusting past to slam Neron into the cage of the arena. It was disorienting enough for him for Sara to throw another knife that stuck in his side. A cry of pain came from his mouth, but whether it belonged to him or Gary was unclear. Mick stepped forward next, heat gun poised to fire as Charlie looked up and-

A knife shot past them, knocking the gun from Mick’s hand. Stunned, everyone turned in the direction it had come from. A second later, a second knife buried itself in John’s arm, making him yell out in pain. Neron took advantage of the distraction and the glass cluster above exploded outwards like a thousand tiny thorns. Ava ducked underneath a table with Sara, only getting hit by a few shards. When she looked out, she saw Neron and the woman who had been fighting in the arena earlier running for the exit. She turned to look back at them and Ava recognized the woman who’d been in Lux that morning.

For a split second, their eyes locked. Then her face contorted into a demonic one and she disappeared through the door.

“We can’t let them get away!” yelled Charlie, half their face bleeding from little pinpricks of glass. “Let’s go!”

But Sara shook her head. “No.”

“But-”

“We’re all back together.”

Ray shook his head. “Not all of us.”

“Enough of us,” Sara clarified as they heard a growing wail of sirens. “He’s hurt, but so are we. We lick our wounds and make a new plan.”

Ava nodded as she helped John to his feet. Her phone was vibrating in her pocket. While the Legends limped out and evaded the police, she pulled it out and saw Hank Heywood had called.

Yeah, she’d deal with that tomorrow.

* * *

 

“You know, I didn’t think you’d come for me,” Neron sighed as he finished bandaging the knife wound in his hotel room. “Thought I was going to get beaten up by the Legends.”

“You were my ride,” commented Maze, a hotel toothbrush spinning between her fingers. “Plus, it wasn’t like I could leave you there.”

Neron cocked his head at her. “And why not? Because you’ve had no problem shooting my hosts before.”

The toothbrush stopped twirling. “And you haven’t stuck a knife in mine before?”

“We’re demons, it’s what we do,” he shrugged. “But we haven’t seen each other in a long time. Why did you stay? You could have run off with everyone else, but instead you hid in the shadows and went after the Legends.”

“So?”

“You’ve been more than happy to leave me for dead before. Why not tonight?”

Maze threw the toothbrush onto the counter. “I haven’t seen another demon in years until you came along. Maybe I missed you or whatever.”

He could understand that. When he’d been in Hell with Des, he’d asked about some of the other demons. Until he learned she had gone with Lucifer to Earth, Neron had wondered if she’d been killed. The thought of Maze being gone had not sat well with him. For ages, Lucifer had dispatched them to go collect souls on Earth before he decided to start going his own way. They had known each other so long. Even for demons, that meant something.

“I can’t believe I’ve actually missed you,” he told her. “Tonight reminded me of all the good times we used to have.”

A smirk flirted along her lips as she stepped closer to him. “You might be the worst, but sometimes you’re fun. We did have a lot of fun back then.”

“We can still have fun,” he suggested. “You wanted to know why I was here, didn’t you?”

“And it wasn’t to reunite with me?”

He rolled his eyes at the sarcasm. “How do you feel about joining forces with me again?”

“Is Tabitha coming along for the ride?”

“If I can get her out, she’s all for it.”

“She’s fun,” Maze’s eyes glittered with bright interest. “So what do you have in mind?”

* * *

 

Two hours later, Maze was slipping out of the hotel room. She had come close to falling back into who she’d been. The night had been fun and tempted, but she held onto herself and didn’t lose it. For centuries, she and Neron had known each other, hunted souls together. They had a history between them that had been built with hate and blood and tortured souls. That might have once meant something to her, but not anymore.

               On the other hand, she could still use it against Neron. He had told her the plan she knew he’d had up his sleeve. Why he was on Earth, why he’d come to Los Angeles, what the endgame was, every damn dirty detail. Maze knew it all and had his trust. He’d wanted her in his plan after all. Right now, he was in the mindset that she was fully onboard with everything and would stand by his side.

Truthfully, she couldn’t wait to bury a knife in his back. Neron could not be allowed to succeed. For the sake of Linda, Trixie, Chloe, Ella, and Dan, his plan could never become reality.

* * *

“Detective, I know you’re still angry with me. This is the fifth voicemail I’ve left you and you still haven’t called me back. What happened at Lux, I was wrong to do that. I want to explain myself and everything. I’m…I’m sorry. Call me back.”

He wanted to add a warning to stay away from Neron, but he ran out of time. Lucifer set the phone down on the counter with a sigh. He’d already told her to watch out for him in the second and third voicemails.

A rustle of wings came from behind him and Lucifer sighed. “You know what time of night it is? There’s a reason I picked LA and not NYC.”

“Yet you’re still awake,” Amenadiel pointed out as Lucifer turned around. “What happened with Chloe?”

“A demon,” Lucifer spat. “One I created, Neron. He’s back in town. Maze is watching him tonight.”

His brother stiffened. “Why is another demon here?”

“I don’t know,” the fallen one sighed. “But it cannot be in our favor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise Neron is going to get an ass kicking soon. But hey, the Legends are back together. That's a good thing, right?
> 
> Also I can guess this was hard to pick up on, but Neron was mimicking Laurel and John's father in the chapter.
> 
> Kudos and reviews fuel my writing juices! Leave one or come chat with me on tumblr!


	3. Act 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava and John deal with the aftermath of failing to apprehend Neron, Lucifer sets a deadline, and Neron decides to go out of Los Angeles with a bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been awful at keeping myself on track with this series. I've been overwhelmed with work and then I was out of the country for two months. But I'm back and planning to see this series through to the end.
> 
> I know I said this was going to be 3 chapters, but the last one got so long that I *had* to break it up into 2 parts. So I'm posting this tonight, and then hopefully I can upload the end of this story tomorrow.

“There’s nothing that you can do right now!”

“That’s not an answer, Johnny!”

“It’s the only one I’ve got right now, Des!”

Ava froze at her spot by the library door, deciding to wait the argument out between them before going back to Sara’s room.

“Come on, there has to be something.”

“You can’t help, Des! And no, I don’t want to talk about it!”

“So you’re fine leaving me to hell, but now you’re willing to run across the country to save someone else after Neron body-hops into him?”

A pause. “Neron got in your head again, Des. That’s still affecting you.”

“Maybe it is,” Des’s reply was colder than ice. “But I came here to help, not to be ignored and pushed aside by my ex.”

Ava stepped back a little further into the library as Des strode past the room. She was glad things between her and Sara weren’t complicated like that. Gary had taken on a demon that had possessed John’s last boyfriend and now Des had joined the crusade to save Gary when none had been given for him. With the events that had transpired mere hours ago in the fight club, she wasn’t surprised to hear John shutting down and trying to distance himself. He was back in that mindset that everyone he touched got hurt. Then again, had he ever left it?

The fading stomps and slamming of doors signified the end of the argument. Ava sighed and went to looking through the book she’d found on demonic possession. No doubt one of the ones John had left lying around in the library. Her eyes drifted over the words of the exorcism, trying to take them in and distance herself from the previous night’s events. After a while, she sighed and set the book down, grabbing a bottle of vodka on the way out of the library.

Five minutes later, she was pounding on the door to John’s quarters.

“Go away!”

“Open up first!”

A muffled curse, then the doors slid open to reveal a miserable looking John. “Whatever you’ve come to tell me, I ain’t in the mood, Sharpie.”

Ava raised the bottle. “Not here to talk, just to drink in the library.”

 The exorcist sighed and pushed himself off the door. “Fine. Misery and company and all that.”

Time passed differently once they started drinking. John Constantine was not her first choice as a drinking buddy, but the night’s events had pushed her to this. She’d gone on a chase through Los Angeles and nearly been sliced to pieces while Neron had gotten away from them again. That wasn’t counting seeing Gary surface from being a prisoner in his own body and how tormented he’d sounded.

“We have to get Neron out of Gary,” Ava mumbled before throwing back another shot.

John refilled their glasses. “Already tried that. Thought I could pull the bastard out and I was wrong. He’s gotten too powerful, and now the world might go to hell because of it. Because I didn’t get to him in time.”

“Well, you were the only one who realized something was wrong when you heard he was back at the Bureau,” she threw back. “I didn’t realize for a whole week that he was possessed.”

She drank again, grimacing at the alcoholic sting of the next drink. “It was right in front of me, and I never thought to look. You told us what happened and I should have known better when he came back. Guess that means I’ve contributed to whatever Neron’s planning too.”

“No, it’s on me. I should have sent Neron to hell for good and found a way to save Des. And I pulled away from Gary because he was so good, and where did that get him?”

He sighed and buried his head in his hands. Ava reached out awkwardly to pat John’s shoulder.

“Gary told Neron he’d be an easier ride than me,” he told her shakily. “Said no one noticed him or cared enough. All the things he told Neron, but that one was the worst. It was the truth. I gave him the shittiest excuse of a break-up…it just hurt him more.”

Ava swallowed. “When he came back to the Bureau, I never asked if he was okay. I told him to get back to work. Even when I heard Neron call me a bitch, I thought I was just hearing things. After Neron reminded me of how I acted, I can’t stop thinking about that. I should have at least been more professional all those times I snapped at him.”

“We all could have been better,” John’s muffled voice came from his hands. “The Legends and I used him as unicorn bait, and then I broke his heart again.”

Ava contemplated taking another drink but decided against it. Instead, she pulled her phone out and tossed it on the desk. The sound made John raise his head up finally to look at it.

“I was supposed to call Gary’s family by now,” she told him. “And I haven’t. They’ve been trying to put up a missing person’s report for him that the Bureau keeps taking down. I tried to call, but I can’t leave the message. It’s policy to report him dead by now and I can’t follow through.”

John nodded, reaching for the bottle until Ava moved it away. More drinking wasn’t going to help them.

“I wish I couldn’t care. I wish I could just be like you and stop caring for five minutes.”

He shook his head. “If you think I never care, you’ve got it all wrong, especially now.”

“Because he took your place as Neron’s puppet?”

John’s eyes were cloudy as he shook his head slowly. Being half drunk made it take a little longer to click for Ava.

“Oh…you really do care about Gary. Like…like him?”

A nod was the given response.

“And I know he likes you,” she sighed. “That’s part of why he gave himself up to Neron. So he wouldn’t take you. Gary couldn’t let it happen to you not just so we wouldn’t fight a possessed exorcist. He did it because he likes you.”

“And he’s getting hurt because of me,” John leaned back in the chair solemnly. “He offered himself to save me and because he felt expendable. You heard him earlier- only one me but dozens of time agents.”

“We gotta rescue him…in the morning,” Ava stood up too fast and cringed. “This was a bad idea. I’m going to bed.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“So do it,” Ava muttered as she made for the door. “Night, John.”

“Sharpie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for this.”

She nodded. “Sure.

The director of the Time Bureau left the library and walked back to the room she was sharing with Sara. It took a little longer in her inebriated state, but she did make it there in the end. Stripping down into a night shirt, she cuddled close to Sara. Her girlfriend was barely awake, only just enough so to notice her presence.

“I love you,” Ava whispered to Sara. “Sara, I love you.”

“I love you too,” murmured Sara. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just needed to say it out loud to you. Because I do love you.”

Sara’s hand cupped her cheek. “Sleep now. Tell me again in the morning.”

* * *

Finding a demon in a city as massive as Los Angeles wasn’t so hard as it sounded given that there were only two of them. Even with that, the tracker that Maze had put on Neron’s phone aided in Lucifer’s search. It was around mid-morning when he finally located Neron sitting alone on the patio of a café. If he noticed that Lucifer was approaching him, he gave no indication of it whatsoever. His focus was on a bus that had broken down on the side of the road. No doubt that it was his doing.

Lucifer sat down across from the demon. “Hello, Neron.”

Neron looked over at him lazily, a smile plastered on his face that was more sinister than sincere. “Lucifer. What a surprise.”

“Isn’t it?” he responded, hoping he was oozing as much false cheeriness as he could. “It’s not that to follow demonic energy when it reeks as strongly yours. You know, it’s stronger than the last time I saw you.”

“Los Angeles suits me, I guess,” Neron chuckled, lifting the cup in front of him. “Would you like an expresso? I’m happy to order you one. They’re absolutely  _ sinful _ .”

“Maybe another time with better company,” Lucifer leaned in closer. “There’s been a lot happening here lately, Neron. I know you’ve been stocking up on souls. News from the last night has your influence written all over it.”

“Maze and I were just living the old days to the fullest.”

“And here I thought she’d upgraded from the likes of you,” the devil sneered. “You’ve caused too much noise in such little time. I wouldn’t have minded your chaos once, but you’ve overstepped.”

Neron smirked. “One little meddle with the detective and now I’m in trouble? Oh dear.”

“You got into her head,” Lucifer snarled, hand drifting towards the knife on the table. “You set her on the path to believing John Constantine, who you also dragged into town, killed that clerk! You manipulated her emotions to take power from them. She was just energy for you!”

Silence fell over them. Neron was emotionless.

“She’s just a human. One of millions, actually billions of energy sources. The pet project that Daddy loved more than you.”

Behind him, a waiter tripped and spilled the contents of his tray onto a woman, whose fingers were flying across her laptop. Lucifer watched as she began to berate the poor boy, who was shaking in terror. Neron waved his fingers and the boy straightened up before hurling vitriolic words right back at the woman. Other people were starting to notice them and smaller arguments began breaking out at tables.

“You’re here to gloat, aren’t you?” Lucifer realized. “Power up on some more negativity while you’re at it too. You wanted me to find you for attention.”

“Oh dear, you figured out my evil plan,” Neron drawled sarcastically. “Whatever shall I do now?”

Lucifer picked up the knife. “I have a suggestion. Leave town, Neron. Take your shenanigans somewhere else and don’t forget to bring Constantine and the rest of his gang.”

“Or what?”

Lucifer tilted his head to the side and stared at Neron’s vessel. Two days earlier, it had been a breeze to pull the soul trapped inside to the surface and push Neron down for a moment. This wasn’t happening so easily now. More resistance met him as he pulled the soul to the forefront. Tears were blooming in the vessel’s eyes as Lucifer pressed Neron down.

“S-s-stop h-h-him,” the vessel whimpered.

He let go and let Neron snap back up in control. The demon looked at him murderously, a sharp contrast from the previous helplessness of his host.

“Leave town,” Lucifer ordered. “If you are not gone by the end of the day or even think about touching Detective Decker ever again, I will strip you from that vessel and send you to hell to be tortured. And that’s if I don’t decide between now and then to obliterate you from the universe. Understand?”

Neron glared at him.

Lucifer drove the knife down into the already scarred and burned hand of the host, making him flinch slightly. “I asked if you understood?”

“Clear,” Neron scowled. “Maybe it is time to scram anyways.”

Yanking the knife out and wrapping his hand in the napkin, the demon stood up and stalked out of the café. Lucifer watched him amble down the street, spreading bits of chaos here and there with the impatient bus travelers. While Neron’s arrival had already raised red flags, the displays he’d been putting on since his time in LA had shown he was becoming something of a threat. Not so much to him, but to the rest of Earth. He needed to be dealt with once and for all.

Perhaps he’d have to cash in that favor with John Constantine sooner than he expected.

* * *

No one slept very well after returning from their fight with Neron. Even though Sara had ordered them all to rest up for whatever came their way the next day, it was hard to get rest after what they had seen. The sounds of Gary’s pained screams were too haunting to forget, but no one was sure how to talk about it. When morning came and they all slowly came into the galley to prepare their respective breakfasts, the air was heavy and somber.

Sara looked over at Ava, who was nursing a cup of coffee between bites of yogurt. Her girlfriend had remembered to tell her that she loved her in the morning when Sara felt more able to appreciate it. She had a feeling that it might have had something to do with the drinking session she and John had last night in the library. Even in the trouble they currently faced, it had been something really nice to hear.

Everyone had been hit in some way during their encounter with Neron, from John and his desolate mood to Ray, whose shoulder had been bandaged up by Nora. Now they were back to square one with no knowledge of where Neron or his new ally were currently. The hours between their return and now had been time to lick wounds and rest. They had to pull themselves back together and go after Neron once more, although there might be a different outcome this time.

“So…we got our asses handed to us last night,” Sara finally began.

“By the dweeb,” Mick grumbled, earning him a glare from some crew members.

“That was Neron, and he found a way to get some souls added to his collection,” John grumbled. “His powers increased and he made use of them. Showed that when he made you think you were back in hell, Des.”

The man in question grimaced as he scraped up a spoonful of granola. “He manipulated my reality, which took a lot of power. It’ll only get worse if he collects more souls. Then he can hit multiple people at once.”

“And he’s got that lady from Lux with him,” Charlie reminded everyone. “She’s probably a demon too.”

“Yeah, but anyways,” Sara steered the conversation back on track. “Those two couldn’t have made it far last night. We have the chance to track them down today.”

“And then what?”

“And then we kill him,” she answered Ava’s question. “We couldn’t hold Neron back last night or get him out of Gary. To be honest, I’m not sure if we’ll be able to. We still don’t even know what he’s planning, but it can’t be good.”

John shook his head. “No. Out of the question.”

“John-”

“We’re not killing Gary,” he snapped.

“You couldn’t even exorcise Neron last night,” Zari reminded him. “You said it yourself, that he has too much power. If he keeps getting more powerful, you’re not getting another chance.”

“Didn’t think of you as a lot that gave up so easily,” John bit back.

“Dweeb knew what he was doing when he let the demon in him,” Mick muttered. “Basically killed himself right there.”

John whirled towards him, but it was Ava who spoke.

“If Gary hadn’t done what he did, you’d be fighting John right now,” she fired back. “As bad as Neron has been in Gary’s body, we would be worse off if it was John. Because it almost was.”

“And you can bring someone back from a possession like that,” Nora added. “If I got spared from death by demonic possession, then Gary should too. I’ve done way worse than anything he’s done.”

They made some pretty good points. Sara had to give them that. “Okay then. So how are we going to stop Neron if John couldn’t get exorcise him?”

“I’ll find a way,” John promised. “I’ll do whatever it takes to free Gary.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sara saw Des purse his lips tightly.

“Me too,” Ava said next. “He’s my oldest friend and he’s still alive in there. If it was any one of us in his place, he’d be fighting for us too.”

“I’m with Johnny and Ava,” announced Charlie. “I’ve had it out for Neron since he set off those magical creatures on me before hopping into Gary. Plus, Ava’s right. If he’d hopped into any one of you, he’d be trying to stop it.”

“Charlie’s right,” Ray nodded. “We’re kinda responsible for him getting possessed. Neron did tell us that we pushed him to feel like nothing. He’s always been there to support us, even when we didn’t want it from him.”

“No one deserves to be possessed by Neron,” Des set his bowl in the sink. “Gary saved my life, I’ll do what I can to save his.”

John turned to Sara. “Guess there’s more of us who want to save him and not kill him.”

Sara looked out on those who had spoken up. “This isn’t going to be easy. You all do remember last night, don’t you?”

They nodded.

“Well, even if he’s a pain, he’s our pain,” Sara sighed, thinking about it. “Plus he did lose a nipple helping us. And…Ava, you are right. If it were any of us who was possessed, he’d fight for us.”

Zari heaved a sigh. “Well, when you put it that way…I guess I’m in too.”

Mick shrugged but gave a general grunt of agreement.

“I would like to add that I too support the rescue of Agent Green,” Gideon chimed in from above.

“Okay then,” the captain clapped her hands together. “So now we’re saving Gary, but we still need to find where Neron is again. He knows we’re here so we’ve lost some surprise. Since we’re not killing him, we need to think of containment first before pulling him out.”

“If I make some modifications to the brig, that should do the trick,” Ray suggested.

A glimmer of hope appeared in John’s eyes.

“But we still need to find Neron,” Zari said. “I’ve been checking that tracker, but it’s where we last cornered Neron. I’m betting he left it there on purpose, so I don’t know how else to find him.”

“Then we use CCTV,” Ava suggested. “Or, you know, just follow the chaos?”

Sara didn’t bother trying to hide the smile she gave her girlfriend. “Then let’s do that.”

* * *

“Oh good, you’re here.”

Quick as a shot, Maze whirled around and threw a knife in the direction of the voice. Neron dodged it easily as it embedded itself into the wall. She scowled at the missed shot and set the bag of groceries down on the floor. Now Chloe was going to ask her why there were knife marks in the walls again.

Neron gave her a look as he plucked the knife from the wall. “Touchy.”

“What are you doing here? We were supposed to meet later.”

“Yeah, but things changed and then I thought I’d come meet you at your place.”

Maze leaned against the counter. “Do I want to find out how you found where I lived?”

Neron flipped the knife in his hand. “Probably not. By the way, it’s a lovely home. Better than Hell. Hide a lot of weapons around?”

“You have to ask? And here I thought you knew me.”

“Well, I didn’t know you did birthday parties,” Neron held up a picture frame. Inside was her, Chloe, and Trixie at the amusement park for the kid’s birthday party. “And I didn’t know you lived with the detective and her daughter. Aww, this is so cute.”

Maze snatched the frame out of his hands and slammed it on the counter. “Stop playing around. Why are you here?”

“Ah, change of plans,” he sighed dramatically as he walked towards her. “I’m leaving town by the end of today.”

“Aw,” Maze began to unload the bag. “Did you get into trouble?”

“Well, the Legends know I’m in town now and they’re unfortunately persistent. So they’re probably going to come after me again soon.”

She smirked and pulled out Trixie’s cereal. “How tragic.”

Nero made a face at her. “Lucifer came by this morning and told me to get out by the end of today. Which is fine. I’m ready to move on. There’s plenty more stops for us to visit.”

“Us?”

“Why wouldn’t I take one of my oldest partners along for the ride after you agreed to join in the fun?”

Maze shoved the cereal into the cabinet to give herself time to think. Neron leaving town was good and bad news. Good because he wouldn’t be close enough to hurt any of her humans. Bad because he didn’t seem too upset about having to leave. Instead, he looked gleeful, which was never a good sign for innocents.

“So where to next?” she finally questioned.

“We go free Tabitha.”

“Free Tabitha?” Maze repeated. That couldn’t be possible. “You didn’t find her, did you?”

“I’ve known where she was for ages. The problem was time and power. I already had time figured out.”

He dangled the watch-like device that had he’d used last night to get them from an alleyway to his hotel room. “Did I mention it does time travel?”

Sirens went off in her head, but Maze didn’t let it register on her face. “So are we leaving now or later?”

“Lucifer gave me to the end of the day to leave town,” Neron reminded her. “I’m taking advantage of that to get the Legends off my ass. Just meet me tonight at Hotel Cortez and we’ll get out of here together.”

“So you’re going to waste a whole day playing with those heroes?”

“Well, even though I’ve been ordered hands off of Lucifer’s detective, I might bring the LAPD into this.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Just meet me at eight thirty tonight.”

He threw her knife back to her, which she caught with ease. Maze kept her eyes on Neron until he was all the way out of the house. Once he was gone, she relaxed slightly. She hadn’t counted on him leaving so soon. He was accelerating his plan, which meant that things were going to get bad a lot sooner than she expected.

There were two ways to stop it and they were hiding in her back pockets.

* * *

“Hello, Los Angeles Police Department.”

“Hi, um, I think I’m being stalked. And it’s more than one person. I was talking to one of your detectives yesterday but I didn’t get to finish giving him the information. Your power went out yesterday.”

“Yes, we did experience a brief outage, but we are back in full operation and are unlikely to experience it again. You said you spoke to a detective?”

“Detective Espinoza. And I need his help because they’re coming after me. I’ve been staying with the owner of Lux and they’ve been coming after me. Three of them were arrested two days ago, but they’re out now. And then more came looking for me during the day yesterday. I know there were two-”

“Sir, I need you to calm down and give me some information. What is your name?”

“Neron.”

* * *

“Anything get picked up yet, Gideon?”

“Afraid not, Captain Lance,” the AI answered. “There is no sign of Neron on CCTV footage yet, but I will update you once he appears.”

Sara nodded in response. “Then I hope he turns up soon.”

“Me too,” John agreed from where he was sitting in the parlor. “The sooner I get him out of Gary, the better for all of us.”

The Waverider’s captain glanced over at him. “You mentioned that he was getting more powerful. How much more powerful are we talking?”

John heaved a sigh and leaned back. “Well, you’ve seen him use telekinesis. That’s your standard demon power, but it can get stronger. In hell, souls are currency for power. The more souls you have-”

“The more power you get,” Ava entered the parlor behind them. “Which we’ve given Neron too much time to acquire. But there’s more than that, isn’t there?”

John stayed silent. Sara looked from Ava to him, wondering the same thing as her girlfriend.

“He spoke in Laurel’s voice,” she remembered. “And again, he used someone’s voice on you, John.”

John’s mouth made the barest twitch. “Mimicry. It’s an old but effective trick of manipulation. Neron called up voices of the dearly departed, like your sister.”

“He also made Des think he was back in Hell. What’s the deal with that?”

“Manipulated his personal reality,” John explained. “The second that charm was off his neck, Neron messed with Des’s mind to make him believe that he was there. Last night, it was just one person. I’ve read texts though saying that with enough power, demons can manipulate the reality of dozens.”

Ava shuddered. “Yeah, as much as this whole thing sucks, I don’t want my reality messed with. We have to stop him from getting any more power.”

“Which means we should get him away from people,” Sara stood up. “But that means we have to bring him in. How do we do that?”

* * *

Neron smiled as he approached Dan’s desk with the officer he’d spoken to. There was no sign of Detective Decker thankfully. It’d just be him and pretty, stupid Dan. Now that he had warmed up his old ability, Neron felt confident about using it more and more.

“This guy’s here to see you,” the officer, now radiating negative energy, barked at Dan. “And here. Do your own damn paperwork.”

She tossed a file onto his desk, nearly spilling hot coffee on him as she marched away. Neron pretended to look concerned about her before looking back at Dan.

“I hope I didn’t make her mad,” he lamented, looking back at Dan. “I don’t know if you remember me from yesterday or not. I was here before the power outage.”

“Yeah, you were,” Dan nodded. “And I remember your voice from the call. Neron, wasn’t it?”

“Good memory, Detective.”

“Eh, hard to forget an unusual name like that,” Dan shrugged, gesturing for him to take a seat. “So you called in because you said you being stalked?”

“Yes,” Neron did his best to look as pathetic as he could. “I was going to tell you yesterday but then that power outage happened and I panicked a little and ran out. And then...my stalkers came after me last night.”

Dan blinked. “I’m sorry, they came after you? You never mentioned this in the call.”

“They got close, but I had a friend come help me out and get me back to my hotel. I’m lucky to have her on my side.”

“Well, I’m glad you made it back safe,” Dan told him. “So those men in custody-- John Constantine, Ray Palmer, and Mick Rory-- all were coming after you and intending to hurt you in Lux the night of their arrest.”

Neron nodded, feeling Gary squirm inside him. Why had he stopped being so passive?

“And with the descriptions and time you gave us, I found a few possible people who could match it,” Dan motioned for him to scoot around to see his computer screen. “Just take your time and look through these.”

As tempting as it was to incriminate the innocent, Neron knew he had to look for the Legends. Setting the LAPD and the time travelers against each other would create just enough noise for him and Maze to escape. It might even work out better if Johnny got his sorry ass locked up for this, along with the rest of the Legends and Ava Sharpe. With them out of the way, his final triumph would be so much easier to reach.

When Ava Sharpe, Sara Lance, and Zari Tomaz were spotted with that shapeshifter (ugh, he should have just killed them that day he took this body), Neron gasped and pointed to the screen. “That’s them!”

“Are you certain?” Dan asked.

“Oh yes, I couldn’t forget their faces.”

Dan scribbled something down on a notepad. “I’ll start to see if I get any hits in the system from any of them. In the meantime, I can bring someone in to talk about keeping you safe until we get this sorted out.”

Suddenly, Gary broke through his grip. “Please help me!”

The detective gaped at him as Neron grimaced and pushed Gary back down. _“Shut up! The grown-ups are talking.”_

**“I don’t care how many horrors you make me see. I’m done staying quiet while you do whatever the hell you want. I’ll keep fighting back!”**

_ “Then I guess I’ll have to take more souls to shut you up. And since you seem to like the nice detective, I think I’ll take his next.” _

**“No! Don’t! Leave him alone, he’s got a kid!”**

“Are you okay?” Dan asked.

“Just a headache, Dan,” Neron sighed, shoving Gary back out of control. “I...can call you, Dan, right?”

“That’s alright,” he agreed, setting his pen down on his desk. Behind the pen, just near the edge of the desk but not quite there, was a picture frame of Dan and a girl. The same little monster who’d been with him and Maze at the mall and was in the picture in her house. Pretty and stupid Dan here must be her father. 

Lucifer had only said the Detective was off limits. He never mentioned the kid.

“This has just stressed me out so much, and you’ve been so kind to me,” Neron simpered, looking into Dan’s eyes. “I’m grateful for everything you’re doing for me. I’m pleased to know I’m in the hands of a capable detective.”

The detective’s cheeks were now flushed. “It’s just my job.”

“And you do so much,” purred Neron. “I hope you get the attention you deserve. I mean, who doesn’t want to be recognized.”

“It rarely happens,” Dan murmured slowly.

Neron could feel him falling under his spell. Slowly, he began to manipulate the reality around him. Everyone in the precinct needed to look away from them. They passed by without a glance, like the two of them were invisible. Now, he just needed to claim Daniel’s soul as his.

“You deserve the attention,” he whispered, putting his hand over Dan’s. “I can give it to you, but you have to give me yourself in return.”

His influence was wrapping around Dan like a snake, slowly crushing resistance out of him. “Wha?”

“It will be worth it,” Neron told him, tugging him closer. “Just say yes, and you will have attention.”

**“No.”**

“Y-yes,” Dan sighed.

“Good,” Neron traced his jaw. “Then we’ll seal it with a kiss.”

* * *

“Mr. Heywood, I will have him by the end of the day, that’s unnecessary to put out.”

Zari looked away from where Gideon was running scans on the cameras in Los Angeles towards Ava. The Bureau director was pacing back and forth, looking frustrated.

“No, we will contain Neron and return him to the Bureau. From there, we can figure out how to separate him from Agent Green.”

_ “Easier said than done,” _ Zari thought to herself as she eyed the screens. Gideon had been at this for nearly two hours. Ugh, she wished Neron could stick out like Gary would have by falling over something or tripping or anything that would have him show his face to the camera.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that for me?” Ava asked before putting a finger to her lips and turning on speakerphone.

Hank Heywood’s voice filtered out instantly. “-reception isn’t that bad on the Waverider, Director. You are not to bring Neron back to D.C. If you see him, kill him on sight.”

Zari’s eyes widened and Ava put a finger to her lips before responding. “Mr. Heywood, with all due respect, Agent Green is still alive even if he isn’t in control.”

“But you aren’t going to get him back,” Hank scoffed. “I heard about what happened in Los Angeles last night. Riots, massacres, a man hanging by his ankles in the middle of the street! You said you would handle it, and you didn’t show you or the Legends could. This foolishness has gone on for long enough. I’m putting out an order to kill for all agents if they see him. Law enforcement in Los Angeles will be informed as well.”

Ava was speechless.

“Director Sharpe, I’m aware you and Agent Green have worked together often, but this is for the best. After all, his family believes him to be dead. You did report that to them, didn’t you?”

“I have, sir.”

“Well, if his family thinks that, then it’s for the best. I expect an update by the end of the day.”

“And I shall send this to you,” Ava replied. “I have to go. One of the Legends needs to discuss something to me.”

With that, she hung up quickly and shoved her phone in her pocket.

“So Nate’s dad wants to kill Neron and Gary,” Zari scooted over on the desk to make room for Ava to take a seat. “Delightful.”

“What’s delightful?” Sara asked as she entered the room. “Everything okay, Aves?”

“No, it’s not,” the director grumbled. “Hank called and he’s not happy that I’ve been avoiding him. He knows that Neron was the one causing all the chaos in LA last night and he’s going to put out a kill order on him. In his mind, everything works out because he thinks I told Gary’s family that he’s dead.”

Sara frowned. “You still haven’t made that call yet?”

“I don’t want to make the call,” Ava huffed. “I hate making them. And if I make this one, then I’ll feel like I’ve given up on Gary.”

“I know,” Sara wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We’re looking. We’ll get him.”

“Actually, Captain Lance, I have located Neron,” Gideon announced proudly. “Although I’m not quite sure what he’s doing at a school.”

The three turned around towards the screen to see what Gideon had found. Indeed, at the front of a school, there was Neron speaking to some teacher with a child beside him. After a moment, they started walking away. Gideon switched to another camera that showed Neron letting the child into a police car, then getting in himself before driving away.

“That's kidnapping,” Zari pointed to the screen. “He definitely kidnapped that girl.”

“Gideon, do you happen to know the name of the kid?”

“School records show that her name is Beatrice Espinoza. Interestingly enough, her parents work for the Los Angeles Police Department. Neron’s going to be in quite a lot of trouble when they find out about this.”

“And that’s what he wants,” Sara groaned. “He wants more chaos, more negative energy. We gotta go help this kid.”

“Gideon, did you get that license plate number?” Zari asked, pulling out her computer.

“Already using traffic camera to follow him.”

“You’re beautiful,” Zari smiled before going serious. “We need to tell the rest of the team about this.”

“Coincidentally, Miss Espinoza’s mother arrested Mr. Constantine, Dr. Palmer, and Mr. Rory the other night,” added Gideon.

“Of course she did,” Sara muttered. “Okay, we need to go after Neron and the kid and not get on the bad side of the police while we’re at it.”

“And make sure no one kills Neron until we get Gary out of him,” Zari added. “So who wants to break this new update to John because I don’t want to.”

Sara looked at Ava hopefully until she sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

Two minutes later, Zari heard the sound of swearing that confirmed John had been informed of the latest update.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you go. Shit is being chucked at the fan.
> 
> Please leave some reviews and kudos to help motivate me to finish this series. They really help me out a lot.


	4. Act 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Dan find out what happened to their daughter, John has the worst funhouse experience ever, Maze snaps, and Lucifer cashes in his favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are! Finally at the end of this particular fic just in time for premiere night! Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way, whether it was at the beginning or just now. Special thanks to harleygirl2468 for building up the world a little more so that I was able to deliver this to all of you. Also to the Constangreen discord being wonderful as always. And I'm hoping I leave off with enough to make all of you wanting more.
> 
> Also, watching Stranger Things 3 and It 2 gave me some inspiration for a certain scene. I promise now it ends better than the latter.

“How could you have forgotten!” Chloe hissed as she slammed the car door behind her.

“I don’t know!” Dan shot back at Chloe. “I’ve never done it before. When it’s my turn to pick Trixie up, I never forget to do it. Chloe, I can barely remember most of today!”

“Why?” Chloe barely held back a scream. “Why aren’t you able to remember?”

“The last thing I remember was that guy from yesterday coming in. Neron or whatever. I told him we were gonna find the people stalking him and then nothing! Chloe, I can’t remember him leaving and it’s starting to freak me out.”

“Neron’s got a stalker?” Chloe frowned at the information as they entered the school. That did not fit the impression she’d gotten of him when they’d met. Although Lucifer had said he was from Hell...and she’d let him and Maze watch over Trixie the other day. He’d been the one who told her John Constantine was the one who killed the store clerk and she had believed him, a demon, to be telling the truth. He’d manipulated her into believing it was him by throwing her relationship with Lucifer in her face.

She’d been played.

“Detectives?” Trixie’s teacher had seen them and was looking incredibly confused. “What are you doing here?”

“I was supposed to pick up Trixie today,” Dan told him. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to keep her waiting.”

“It’s been two hours since she left. I was told you were caught up in a crime scene. The officer who picked her up told me he’d be escorting her to the station. Provided his credentials and everything.”

“Was he tall? Dark hair, beard, kinda handsome? Has a lot of burns and cuts on his hands?” Dan asked.

Chloe side-eyed him as the teacher nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly right.”

“Did he mention where we were?”

“He said something about an incident at the pier, but didn’t go into details. What’s happening? Is Trixie okay?”

“I will call you later with more information,” Chloe said. “Do not talk to anyone else until I give you a call.”

Once her daughter’s teacher nodded, Chloe was running out the school with Dan on her heels. Her heart was starting to pound right out of her chest. Neron had Trixie. He had played her, he had played Dan, and now he’d gone after Trixie. She needed to call Lucifer and Maze. Even if her roommate was a demon, Trixie’s safety was something Maze had time and time again given a damn about.

She was waiting for Maze to pick up when a car drove past before speeding up. In the brief seconds as it passed, Chloe could make out a blonde in a trench coat sitting in the front seat. Another car sped past, following the first one around the corner. There was no way that was a coincidence.

Maze’s voicemail played, so she wasn’t picking up. Chloe fished her car keys out of her pocket and tossed her phone to Dan. “Get in the car. Call Lucifer, then try Maze again. We have to follow them.”

“But Trixie-”

“I know where she is now.”

* * *

“You’re thinking pretty hard over there,” Ray remarked to Des as they followed John and the others in the car ahead of them. “Want to talk about it?”

“I’m not looking forward to crossing paths with Neron again,” Des told him. “Last two times I’ve done it, things haven’t ended well. It’s reminding me too much of when I was possessed.”

“Oh,” Ray nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“Well, at least Gary has people who want to get him out,” Des remarked. “John just sent me right to hell.”

Ray found himself at a loss for words.

“Look, I want to help him in some way because that is the worst thing that can happen to you,” explained Des. “But chasing after Neron reminds me of what he made me do and feel. Not to mention John is pulling away to the point where he doesn’t even want to be in the same room as me. It’s making it hard to be here.”

“People can have trouble finding their place here.”

Mick sighed from where he was driving as Charlie bobbed their head along to whatever they were listening to now. “Lemme sum up Haircut’s speech for you, New Guy. End of the day, you need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”

“I can make it sound better than that!”

But Des ignored them as they started to bicker. Mick had a good point there. He knew what he was going to have to do.

* * *

Maze plugged in her phone with a scowl. Stupid batteries were getting worse and worse. Her phone had died on the way to her latest bounty. Now that he was dealt with, she was taking advantage of the charger he’d had on him. At least he was good for something.

A series of texts and a few voicemails popped up it finally turned back on. Mostly from Lucifer, Chloe, and Dan. She pressed the latest from Chloe and listened.

_ “Maze, it’s Dan. Call me back as soon as you get this because Neron has kidnapped our daughter and screwed with both me and Chloe!” _

Maze snapped the phone in two.

Neron had finally gone too far.

* * *

Gideon’s tracking on the car Neron was in brought them to a stop at an amusement park out on the waterfront. Once they had parked, all the Legends made haste to get over to the park. There was a lot of pressure not to screw up here. They had to make sure Neron was contained and not getting anymore souls. Unfortunately, the park was massive and crowded.

“Fan out,” Sara ordered once they were inside. “Neron and that kid could be anywhere. The police could show up at any second. If you see him, call it in on the comms and wait for someone. Do not engage him on your own.”

All of them set off in their own directions. John headed down towards the carnival games, eyes peeled for the slightest thing that could be amiss. There had to be a fight or argument going on somewhere around here. No way Neron could resist it with all the people milling about. But where was he?

Then he saw him in the distance with the kid. Neron was leading her into a funhouse currently closed for maintenance. Before he disappeared in the entrance, the demon turned around and gave a wink. Black veins were visible across his face.

Screw Sara’s orders of calling someone in. The kid was in danger now. 

John charged towards the funhouse, not hearing Ava shouting his name behind him.

* * *

“Trixie!” Chloe called out as she started down one of the aisles of games at the amusement park. “Trixie!”

She could feel her heartbeat thudding in her chest. It was just her and Dan searching for their daughter, but back-up was on the way. Neither Maze nor Lucifer had picked up when Dan had called on the way over. Whether they came or not, Chloe was going to search this whole place if it killed her.

“Trixie!”

“Mom!”

Chloe whirled in the direction of the voice. Sitting on a bench with her backpack was Trixie, holding a plush turtle that had to be a prize from one of the game booths.

“Trix!” Chloe cried, sprinting over and looking over her daughter. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No,” Trixie shook her head, but she looked scared. Chloe wasn’t sure if it was because of Neron or how she must have looked right now. “I’m not hurt.”

Chloe pulled her off the bench and wrapped her in a hug. “I was so scared. Your dad forgot to pick you up and we panicked.”

“Neron picked me up. He told Mr. Davis that you were waiting for me at the park. When we got here, he told me to go play a game and that you’d come get me.”

“And I did,” she nearly cried as she caught sight of Dan, waving him over to join them.

As Dan got his reunion time with Trixie and apologized over and over for forgetting her, Chloe found her eyes were drawn to a tall blonde woman. She was staring at them with alarm. Quickly, she batted Dan with her arm. “Look.”

Dan followed her gaze as the woman suddenly ran off towards the closed funhouse. “That’s one of the woman Neron said was stalking him. Should we go after her?”

Before Chloe could answer, their phones both pinged. A message from the department had been sent out to them. The government had just issued a warning for an active fugitive in the Los Angeles area. If any officers came into contact with him, they were to kill on sight. Two pictures of the fugitive had been attached. Chloe opened it, knowing exactly who it was from the second staticy image taken outside of Lux.

Neron.

* * *

Walking through a near-empty funhouse was not something John was enjoying. Knowing there was a demon possessing someone he cared about in there with a little girl made it even less pleasant. At least the lights were still on so he could see where he was going. But aside from his footsteps, it was nearly dead silent inside. That didn’t feel right at all.

“Just let the girl go!” he shouted in the middle of a room that was probably supposed to rock you from side to side. “It’s me that you want, Neron! I’m here now, so let her go!”

No response came, which he’d expected. He stepped out of the room and up a staircase that twisted in strange ways. At the end of that was a mirror maze.

“I know you’re hiding in there!” John shouted. “Show yourself!”

A loud screech pierced his ears, echoing around the maze. Then the lights flashed as a series of beats started to play.

_ Sometimes I feel I've got to _

_ Run away I've got to _

_ Get away from the pain that you drive into the heart of me _

John winced at the music playing just a hair too loud, but it wasn’t going to turn him away. He set his sights on the maze ahead of him. A flash of white moved past one of the mirrors ahead of him. At the sign of life, John smirked and made his way into the maze as Tainted Love blared around him. He was getting close.

“I see you, Neron!” he called as a half a dozen John Constantines looked around for which direction to take at the split. 

_ And I've lost my light _

_ For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night _

A laugh somehow cut through the music. “I see you too, Johnny!”

It sounded like it had come from the left, so he started running that way. It didn’t last for very long before he smacked into one of the mirrors. Of course Neron would pick a place like this to hide in, one that tricked people. He shook his head and continued down the path as the lights continued to flicker and the music screamed above him.

_ Take my tears and that's not nearly all _

_ Oh tainted love _

_ Tainted love _

“John?” 

He glanced up to see Gary’s reflection in a mirror toward towards his right. Not Neron, but Gary. It was all in the eyes, the way the body held itself. John hurried towards him, head still aching from hitting the mirror. When he got to that mirror, he looked down the passage to the left to see he was still alone.

“You came for me?” the reflection asked, moving to one of the mirrors to John’s left. “John?”

“It’s me, squire,” John tried to smile at him, but the music and the lights and his headache made it difficult. Then he remembered Neron. “No, no, you’re not here.”

Gary’s face fell as he placed his palms on the glass. “Yes, I am! John, it’s me!”

“No, you’re a trick,” John snapped, talking the left pathway. “You’re not real! You’re a lie.”

“I thought you cared about me!”

The pain in his voice...it sounded too much like Gary. When John looked back, the reflection was gone.

_ You don't really want it any more from me _

_ To make things right _

_ You need someone to hold you tight _

The path led him into a room with mirrors surrounding him from all sides. He couldn’t tell where the way out of it was. As he stood in the center, John felt the hairs creep up on the back of his neck. When he spun around, there was no one to be found. Just him and his reflection multiplied a dozen times.

“Look at me, John!” Gary’s voice screamed, drawing John to another mirror. He nearly forgot to breathe when he saw Gary, covered in blood. “Look at me!”

“And here I thought I was the only Gary you’d screwed over,” a familiar voice came from behind.

_ Once I ran to you (I ran) _

_ Now, I'll run from you _

_ This tainted love you've given _

Gary Lester, face still freshly carved with containment marks, was glaring at him. 

“Gaz,” John whispered, rushing straight ahead to get out of the room only to collide with another mirror. “Fuck!”

“Should have been you, Johnny,” Richie Simpson snarled at him from the mirror he’d just run into. “I wish I could have told you it more often.”

John climbed to his feet, trying to run out and slamming into another mirror.

“How many more are you damning to hell, John?” Manny taunted from this one as he hit the floor.

John started to walk around the mirrors, putting his hand along them as he tried to find a way out. But he made a complete circle around with no exit. He was trapped in here. Neron had tricked him into this and now he couldn’t figure out which way was out. Music blared and lights flashed and he saw blood on the ground that could have been his or Neron messing with him. More and more people appeared in the mirrors and it felt like they were multiplying. Zed, Chas, Anne Marie, his mother, his father, his sister, Astra. Even the Legends were appearing, all of them screaming at him.

_ Don't touch me please _

_ I cannot stand the way you tease _

_ I love you, though you hurt me so _

The song’s lyrics were blending together. He wasn’t sure if the light were blinking faster or if Neron was making him think that. John backed away from the mirrors so he was in the center of the room. Gary’s reflection suddenly stumbled out of the mirror towards him.

_ Tainted love, oh, tainted love, oh _

_ Tainted love, oh, tainted love, oh _

He couldn’t hear the song anymore, just nonsense garblings as he struggled to breathe.

* * *

“John!” Ava yelled as she ran through the funhouse.

She had seen him go running in after Neron and the girl, then saw Trixie Decker reunite with her parents mere seconds later. Then the alert had come in for all Bureau agents to kill Neron on sight. Once she made sure that the Legends knew where she was, Ava went in after John with Sara on her heels. The rest were going to be waiting at the exits. Neron would be surrounded whenever he came out.

“John!” called Sara as they started to hear faint music playing. “Oh I hate these places.”

“It’s like I’m in a horror movie,” Ava told her girlfriend. “I think I know how the final girl feels now.”

A scream shot through the air as they reached the staircase. The two women ran up the twisted staircase and into the mirror maze. The music was a little louder and the lights flickered from time to time. Screaming that sounded like John was coming from inside the maze. 

Sara flicked out her staves. “We better get him out.”

“Yep,” Ava agreed, flicking out her own baton before they started into the maze.

They did their best to follow the sounds of John’s screams and not hit any dead ends, which was easier said than done. Finally, Ava found John in the middle of a room, on his knees and screaming at the mirrors. She couldn’t see Neron anywhere, but there was no way she was taking chances. Running up to the nearest mirror, Ava slammed her baton into it. Glass shattered down and John looked her way. So she broke the one next to it and he seemed to notice it.

“What are you doing?” Sara asked as she entered the room. 

“Break the mirrors!” Ava shouted. “Neron’s made him see something.”

The two shattered all the mirrors surrounding John, slowly bringing him out of whatever Neron had made him see. Once the last mirror was shattered, John finally seemed to be back in reality and climbing to his feet.

“Thanks for the save,” John panted, wiping blood from a cut on his forehead. “I...let him get to me. He’s still in here. The girl...”

“She’s with her parents,” explained Ava. “They found her just after you went in. She’s okay.”

“I need to find him,” John lurched forward. “He’s still in here.”

“You’re facing him alone,” Sara lectured as they worked their way through the maze. “Hey, how much bad luck do you think we’ve brought upon ourselves back there?”

Ava groaned, hoping that the ridiculous superstition wouldn’t turn out to be true. “I haven’t heard anything from the others, so he-”

“Must still be inside with you?” the demon smirked as they rounded the corner.

“Jesus, Gary!” Ava screamed, forgetting for the briefest moment that this wasn’t her friend looking back at her.

Sara lunged forward with her batons, but Neron flicked his hand to the side. An invisible hand knocked Sara into a mirror hard enough to crack it while Neron turned tail and ran. Ava looked over at her girlfriend for a moment to make sure she was okay before chasing after the demon. It wasn’t easy with all their reflections, but she made it to the exit and gained ground. 

Neron was in front of a slide that was likely meant to go back down to the ground floor. Before he could get on it, Ava threw herself forward and tackled him down it. However, she soon figured out why the funhouse was closed: half the slide was missing. The two of them fell through the air before hitting the ground. Pain shot through Ava’s arm before she rolled to a stop, but her legs worked enough to kick Neron back down when he tried to get up.

“You have been the biggest pain in my ass!” she snarled as she climbed to her feet.

“Are you talking to me or Gary?”

Anger boiled up in Ava. She knew he was trying to push her buttons. Neron wanted her mad so he could take in the energy, but she refused to give him the satisfaction. He deserved to suffer for everything he had done to Gary, to Des, and for kidnapping that girl. So she took a deep breath and exhaled, letting her anger dissipate as much as she could. Now she could think more clearly and remember what had to be done.

“Gary, if you can hear me, I’m sorry about this,” she said, pulling out a salt shaker she’d taken from the Waverider.

She unscrewed the lid the best she could with one hand and poured a third onto Neron’s hand, right along one of the unhealed cuts. The demon’s screech sounded like two people, not one. Ava clutched her arm as the demon writhed and used the remaining salt to make a circle on the floor. Just as she finished, Sara and John arrived through the slide. The latter went straight for Neron while Sara hurried towards her. 

“Try to exorcism him,” Ava told John. “Just..try.”

“Ava-”

“Do it,” she ordered, ignoring Sara. “You won’t be alone.”

John looked hesitant, but began anyways. Ava spoke in unison with him, thankful she’d spent most of the day studying the book from the library. She had no idea if this was going to work or not, but she was willing to make the gamble. John had certainly not been expecting her to join him and neither had Sara based on their expressions.

Neron had started screaming again when the exorcism started. The black veins in his face slowly receded as he continued to scream. Ava held her breath until she heard the scream become Gary’s.

“Gary?” John stopped chanting and dropped down to his side. Ava limped over with Sara as Gary shook on the floor.

“It’s me,” Gary whimpered. “Everything hurts right now.”

“How you even managing this?” Sara asked. “You could barely talk last night.”

“You said last night John couldn’t get him out alone,” Ava addressed Gary. “You meant with the exorcism. More people, the more power the words have.”

Gary cracked a smile, a real one, before cringing. “He’s still in me, but you pushed him down enough for me to get back up. Thanks, Director.”

“You would have done the same for any of us,” Sara told him. “So if we get enough people to say an exorcism, then we can get Neron out of you?

Gary nodded. “You have to commit to it though. Really believe in it. Right, John?”

“You remembered?” John asked, earning another nod from Gary. “Good on you.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“It was Neron, not you,” John wrapped his hand around Gary’s. “But we will get him out, squire. Third time’s the charm. I promise you.”

“You have to do it soon. Neron’s going to the past to set someone free. Then he wants to invade the Bureau again. Do whatever you have to stop him, even if I go down with him.”

“Gary-”

“You swore it to me, John. Remember?”

“I did. But I don’t want you to get hurt, Gary.”

“I chose this to spare you, so I accept the consequences,” Gary shuddered, blinking several times. “He’s trying to come back up.”

“Before he does, you have to tell us something,” Sara bent down by Gary’s side. “What is Neron’s endgame? What is his plan?”

“He wants....no, not yet,” Gary squeezed his eyes shut. The veins in his face began to turn black again. “He wants the Earth. Now get out of here. I’m portaling as far away as here I can, but he’s going to want to fight again! Just get a head start so he can’t find you!”

“Gary-” Ava started.

“Go!” he cried, snatching his hand away from John’s. “Go before he hurts you anymore.”

Sara stood and hauled John to his feet. “We have to go.”

“No, no-”

“John, come on!”

John looked from her to Gary with a conflicted expression before dropping his hand into his pocket. Ava rose up to join them, but stopped.

“Gary, you give him as much hell as you can when he’s in control. Fight back. That’s an order.”

“I’ll try my best. Now please, go!” Gary pleaded as he slowly rose his courier. “Hurry!”

The three reluctantly left him behind to crawl through his portal while they made for the exit. Ava refused to let herself look back. She had hoped joining John in the exorcism would have rid Gary of Neron for good. They needed more people, but there was finally a solution to ending this that wouldn’t end in Gary getting killed while Neron possessed him.

Oh god, she’d completely forgotten to mention that. Now it was too late.

Ava had expected sunlight hit them as soon as they made it out of the exit, but the sun was actually going down. The rest of the Legends were waiting for them there. Ray and Charlie’s hopeful expressions faded fast when they realized it was just the three of them. Once again, they had failed to come away with Gary or even a contained Neron.

“Where is he?” Des finally asked.

John’s hand was in his pocket again. “We almost had Neron out. But he’s still got a grip. Gary’s given us a head start though by portaling somewhere else.”

Ava tuned out whatever was said next to look out at the beach beyond the park. She had so badly wanted a win for them today. Everyone, especially John, had needed it. While they had information of Neron’s plans, he hadn’t been beaten out yet.

“Hey,” Sara came up and wrapped an arm around her, mindful of her injured one. “You were awesome back there.”

“Awesome didn’t help us very long,” she muttered.

Sara nodded. “Hey, I know you’re angry. I could tell when you ran after him. But you didn’t let him manipulate you. You powered through even though I’m thinking you might have broken your arm.”

“Yeah,” Ava sighed. “I’m gonna need to see Gideon when we get back to the ship.”

“I think we all need to head back there,” Sara addressed everyone now, not just her. “We got some information from Gary in there that Nate and Mona are going to need to know.”

* * *

As they made their way out of the park, Ray’s phone began to ring. He looked at the phone screen with a frown before showing it to John. The shorter man’s eyes widened and he quickly hit Ignore. Sara exchanged a look with Ava, curious about what had just happened.

Nora beat them to the punch when they walked under the archway to exit. “Who was that?”

Ray exhaled. “Well, uh…”

“That would be me,” a smooth British voice replied.

Nine heads turned forward to see Lucifer Morningstar leaning against his car, phone in hand.

“You!” Nora narrowed her eyes at him. “You stay the hell away from me.”

“That charm you’re wearing should keep you from being affected by his energy,” John assured her before stepping forward. “Hello again, Lucy. Wish we had time to chat, but we don’t.”

“Oh, but you do for me,” Lucifer ran his eyes over the assembled team. “Quite the team you’re leading.”

“Actually, that’s the captain,” John pointed towards Sara, who stepped up to join him. “I’m just one of the strays who stuck around. Now if you don’t mind, we have places to go to.”

“I do mind though. I’m cashing in that favor you owe me, and it’s going to involve everyone you’ve come with.”

* * *

By eight, Maze had arrived at the hotel where Neron had told her to meet. Hotel Cortez was larger than she had thought it was, but it didn’t phase her.The whole facade looked like it had been plucked from the art deco era. It was probably had been built during then, given the scaffolding on one side of the building. Whatever they were doing, it wouldn’t erase that it was a hellmouth.

Maze walked up the steps and into the stunning lobby. A woman at the front desk with enormous spectacles regarded her for a moment before going to another room. The demon shrugged and headed towards the elevators. A sign next to the elevators informed her that the sixth floor was closed for renovation. Neron hadn’t mentioned any floor, but she was willing to bet that was where he wanted to meet. With any luck, she could be early and lie in wait for him.

The slow ride up gave her a chance to check her weapons one last time. Once the elevator stopped, Maze exited and walked down the hallway. She heard the sound of plastic rippling and followed after it. It took her towards a part of the floor where everything was ripped up down to the original structure. Tools, both manual and power, were all around the space.

Neron sat on a pile of wooden planks. “Hello, Maze.”

“Neron,” she sneered at him. “You’re early.”

“I had some time to kill,” he shrugged. “Might have another run in with the Legends again. You missed out on seeing Constantine run into mirrors.”

As amusing as it sounded, Constantine and everyone he’d come to town with (cute shapeshifter included) were far from her thoughts. “You have some explaining to do.”

“I explained everything last night.”

“Oh, not that,” she stepped towards him, keeping herself close to one of the stray tools. “You kidnapped Chloe Decker’s daughter when you were told specifically not to mess with her.”

Neron scoffed. “Lucifer said not to mess with the detective, but he never mentioned the spawn, or the ex either.”

Maze narrowed her eyes. “I know you’re inclined to chaos, hate, spreading negativity and all that. But you went too far this time.”

“Awww, did I touch a nerve, Mazikins?”

She threw out her first knife, pinning the leg of his pants the stack of planks. “ _ Never _ call me that. If you had come to me a few years ago, I would have said yes to your plan and you.”

Neron stared at her, confused.

“I’m not coming with you, Neron. I was never going to, but then you went and hurt my family. I can’t let that go unpunished, even if you don’t feel guilty.”

“So,” Neron yanked the knife out. “You’re here to try and kill me then?”

“There’s no try here.”

Neron’s face shifted briefly to his demonic one. Maze mirrored the action before she ran at him.

* * *

“So...you’re the Devil then,” Sara broke the awkward silence in the car. She’d agreed to ride back with Lucifer so the Legends weren’t so squished in the cars behind them. It was the best show of good faith she could make as the captain and leader. So far, it seemed to be going well.

“Indeed I am,” Lucifer smiled. “And you’re the woman who’s died two, three times?”

“Define death,” Sara shot back. “Never thought I’d met the real Lucifer. What are you doing up here anyways?”

“I’ve been surface settled for quite some time. Used to just manage Lux but now I’ve added crime-solving to the daily schedule.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. What’s the devil doing solving crimes?”

“I like doing it,” he shrugged. “Believe it or not, I’m quite the partner. You’d be surprised what I can get people to admit. Like you...what do you truly desire, Sara Lance?”

* * *

On the sixth floor of the Hotel Cortez, Maze was holding off Neron as much as she could. She could take him without breaking a sweat usually, except Neron had been powering up on souls. His reality-altering had little effect on her, but the telekinesis was a bitch. Still, if she got close enough to him with her knives or fists, they were closely matching.

“You know what I’m offering you, Mazikeen,” Neron growled as he blocked her knife. “Think about it! The two of us, Hell’s greatest demons, running things side by side.”

“I’m happy right where I am,” Maze laughed, kicking his shin to get the upper hand. “I never wanted to be a ruler. You...you just aren’t cut out for it.”

“Because Lucifer always told us that!” Neron knocked her legs out from under her. “We’re beneath him and you know it! We are literally beneath him and this is the chance to crawl out of the shadows!”

Maze turned over and slashed her knife at his face. He howled in pain. She’d missed his eye, but there was a long cut along his cheekbone. That would leave a mark. As he reacted, she took the chance to climb back to her feet.

“I’m not beneath him,” she announced as he crawled to his feet. “I’ve never been. Self-worth comes from within, you dick.”

She ran forward again and slammed him back into one of the supporting beams. As she felt for a knife, Neron headbutted her in the nose. She blinked, feeling her blood trickle out of her nose before punching him in the ribs. He groaned before kicking her back onto the ground. Maze hopped back up and their violent dance repeated itself until Neron went sailing through a wall.

Once he did, Maze pulled out the knives that would end him for good and ran for the nw hole she’d created. However, Neron was on his feet and send her flying back with a wave of his  hand. As she rose again, her old partner was looking right at her, more hate in his eyes than ever before. His wrist, the one with his time travel watch or whatever, was raised.

“We could have been something together, Mazey,” he taunted, wiping his cheek and smearing the blood there. “Once I win, after I’ve killed the Legends, you’ll be next.”

“One of us will kill the other,” she told him. They’d always known this from the day they met. Now, it seemed closer than ever. “I know exactly which one I’ll be.”

She threw the knife towards his head. Neron pressed something on the watch thing and dropped down out of sight. Her knife embedded into the wall and Maze ran over confused. When she peered through the hole, Neron was gone. He’d escaped at the last second.

She screamed as loud as she could. 

Five minutes later, Maze was back in the lobby of the Hotel Cortez. No other guests were milling about in the quiet lobby. The woman at the front desk didn’t seem bothered by her bloody and beaten appearance as she walked past her. The night air was cool on her open wounds, soothing them. Maze then turned to her left and saw the convertible Neron had been driving around in. He was nowhere in sight.

Maze walked back inside the hotel, made her way to the bar, and paid for the whole bottle of whiskey. She also nabbed a napkin on the way out. This time, the woman was paying attention, like she knew a show was coming. Maze smirked as she took a pull from the bottle and stuffed the napkin inside it. Pulling out a lighter, she set fire to the napkin and tossed it into the backseat of Neron’s car. She backed up enough to watch it go off and walked away with a smile.

She felt better now. Although she was definitely about to get a bad Uber rating.

* * *

“So we’re all here now,” John sighed as they entered Lucifer’s penthouse. “What the hell is this favor you want out of us?”

“It better not be clowns,” Mick grumbled.

Lucifer looked disgusted. “Please. I wouldn’t cash in a favor from John Constatine that involves clowns.”

“Then why do you want him?” Ava asked. “And all of us too? You made the deal with John.”

“Yes, but clearly you’ve all got history with Neron. In the last few days, you’ve made a scene at my club, got a third of yourselves arrested, and fought him twice with a result of nothing. All while he still gets more powerful.”

“Really?” Nora snarked. “We had no idea!”

Lucifer paused and looked at her. “Mallus took you for a spin, didn’t he?”

“These days, I fight the demons,” she responded. “Besides, I’m not the only one here who’s been a vessel. Des was Neron’s last host.”

“And then he body-hopped into his new meatsuit,” Lucifer finished. “Yes, I’m aware of the history. Which brings me to the favor I’ve come to ask of you.”

John plopped down on the sofa, pulling out a cigarette from behind his ear and lighting it. “Just tell us already.”

“I’m getting to that,” Lucifer stole the cigarette from him. “I’m asking you to put an end to Neron once and for all.”

“Like kill him?” Mick asked. 

“Exactly,” the Devil handed John back the cigarette. “That’s it. I want him gone from existence.”

“Then that makes two of us,” John told him. “Easy enough. I’ll do it.”

“But what about Gary?” Ray asked. “You were hellbent on us not killing Neron today because Gary was in there. How are we supposed to get him out?”

“There is a way,” Sara told him. “But we’re all going to need to memorize how to do an exorcism.”

“Well, it seems you’re in capable…” Lucifer trailed off as the elevator doors opened. “Maze?”

John turned around with the rest of the Legends to see the demon exiting the elevator. He hadn’t seen Mazikeen for a few years, but she looked like her home tonight. Dried blood was splattered across her face and arms, enough that John wasn’t sure how much was her own. A faint smell of burned leather filled his nostrils once she stopped and regarded the group.

“What are they doing here?” she asked, peeling off her jacket and dropping it on a chair. 

“You were with him the other night,” Ava’s voice was like ice. “You’re working with him. Where is Neron?”

“About this tall, dark hair, missing a nipple?,” Maze shrugged. “Don’t know right now. And I was never working with him. Not really, anyways. I was keeping an eye on what he was doing here.”

“How did you know he’s missing- no, forget it,” Ava shook her head. “Why the hell should I believe anything that comes out of the mouth of a demon?”

“Because she’s on Lucifer’s side,” John explained. “Maze, the Legends. Legends, this is Mazikeen, one of Hell’s finest torturers. And judging by the look of you, I’d say you’ve been out doing your job?”

Maze glared. “Actually trying to kill Neron, only he slipped through my fingers. So I blew up his car.”

“Nice,” Mick complimented.

“And why were you trying to kill Neron?” John asked. “Because I’d prefer you didn’t until I have him out of his current host.”

“He went too far today,” Maze glanced towards Lucifer. “You hear that he kidnapped Decker’s daughter and left her at the amusement park? I was willing to overlook a lot, but he went after our family. He’s taken in so many souls that he’s completely power mad.”

“He WHAT?!”

“What do you mean by that?” Zari asked, going back to what Maze had been saying. “And do you maybe know what he’s planning to do?”

“Gary told us he wants the Earth...whatever the hell that means,” Sara told her. “He got through to us in the funhouse and managed to get that much out before Neron started to take over again.”

Maze nodded. “He told you about half of that. Impressive considering Neron’s been torturing the shit out of him. But yes, he does want the earth. He also wants to rule it and turn it into an upper layer of hell instead of a middle zone.”

“He wants to make Earth Hell 2.0?” Sara questioned. “Why not just rule Hell?”

“He can’t,” Lucifer, John, Maze, and Charlie all said in unison before Lucifer continued. “No demon can ascend the throne of Hell. Heaven’s out of the question. Earth has always been neutral ground. It has no ruler.”

“So Neron wants to rule the world,” Ava swallowed. “Well, at least we know what he wants.”

Everyone’s faces dropped at the thought of the possibility, but John noticed Des and Nora sharing a glance. Like they’d known this the whole time they were here in Los Angeles. It made sense, since Des had been possessed by Neron before. This whole time...he had known and never told him. John couldn’t believe him.

“We are going to bring him down,” Sara promised, setting her eyes on Lucifer. “You want us to kill Neron? Done. And we’ll save the world while we’re at it.”

“You better,” Maze told them. “I may be from Hell, but I like things just the way they are up here.”

“Then we better get going,” John stood up. “Glad we’re even now, Lucy.”

“Not until he’s dead, Johnny,” Lucifer sneered back, but Maze wasn’t quite done.

“You,” she pointed to Ava. “Stay back. The rest of you go.”

“The hell we are,” Sara stepped closer to her girlfriend with Charlie.

Maze rolled her eyes. “I’m not doing anything to her. She’ll be down in a minute.”

“It’s fine,” Ava told them. “Just go.”

John didn’t like leaving Ava anymore than the rest of them, but things were good between him and Lucifer right now. It would do no good to hurt Ava right now when they were allies in stopping Neron. As they got into the elevator, John put as much distance between himself and Des as he could. He was still trying to figure out what to say to the other man.

Once they were at the ground level, they waited while people moved past them to get up to the club. A few minutes passed before Ava came out of the elevator. She looked to be intact, save for her previously-hurt arm. When Sara asked her what had happened, Ava told her that Maze had given her some advice about not letting personal connections prevent them from taking out Neron.

“Anything on where he might be?” Ray asked.

Ava shook her head. “No. Also, Charlie, if you ever come back to LA, Maze would love to see you again.”

The shapeshifter smiled while Zari glared. “Let’s just get back and figure out where Neron ran to.”

* * *

Lucifer watched the tiny figures of the Legends walk to their vehicles and drive off. With any luck, they could pull this out and all walk away alive. He’d seen enough about most of them to know they had the skills to succeed. It all depended on whether they could use them together to eliminate Neron for good.

“Nice view out here.”

Lucifer turned to see Chloe leaning against the balcony beside him. “You’re here?”

“Yeah, I figured this would be where I could find you,” she chuckled. “I came to say sorry.”

“Chloe, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Except for not trusting you and refusing to answer your calls,” she sighed. “Maze told me Neron was from Hell. I thought he’d be like you and Maze when he told me that Constantine was the one who killed the clerk.”

“You thought you could trust him,” Lucifer summarized. “And because of that, he manipulated you.”

“Yeah, that. He made me think that Constantine was here for you and then he pulled up a picture of Trixie. Now that I think about it, he threatened her right then and there.”

Remembering what Maze had told him earlier, he turned to Chloe. “I didn’t know he took Trixie. I haven’t been on my phone all day and never heard it go off.”

Chloe frowned. “I called you over and over. Did you have it on silent?”

“No, no, I-” he stopped as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. “This isn’t my phone.”

“What? You’re sure.”

He pressed the home button, showing her the lock screen of some Dungeons and Dragons die. “Positive.”

“Neron?”

“Has to be, but he’s gone. I told him to get out of town by the end of today. He must have changed the phones then. But he’s not here anymore. Maze has chased him out, and Constantine’s after him. He will never hurt you or anyone you love again.”

Chloe looked a little relieved. “Good. Sorry about your phone though.”

“I’ve been needing a new one anyways. The battery’s garbage.”

That got a snort out of her. “I need to get home. Dan’s over tonight making sure Trixie’s okay after today. But see you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow.”

* * *

“You knew the whole damn time.”

Des jumped in surprise, which was exactly how John had wanted to catch him. “What the hell, Johnny?”

“You knew Neron wanted to take over the earth this whole time, didn’t you?” John snapped. “And you never said a word.”

“I told Nora,” Des spat. “Because she asked and gave a damn about my wellbeing. Unlike you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Are you kidding me?” Des laughed. “Do you seriously not see it?”

John felt his stomach drop as Des continued.

“When Neron took over me, you sent me to Hell. I was there for months and you didn’t do anything to free me. All you did was run. Then when Neron jumps into this Gary, you want to stop him? You are willing to run across the country and time to free him and kill Neron. How come I never got that?”

“I thought you were gone for good!” John protested. “I was afraid, especially when Neron said he was coming for me again. Then he let you go and took Gary. I swore to him I’d do what it took to win. And I’m-”

“You knew I was possessed by Neron this whole time and never asked me about it.”

“It was a traumatic experience for you!”

“But when you got through to Gary, you asked him and he told you only a part, but it was good enough!”

“Des-”

“Do you love him?”

The words died in John’s throat. “Des-”

“Do you still love me?” the hurt was too evident in his voice.

“I…”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Des sighed. “You moved on from me, Johnny. Whether you accept that or not, you did.”

As much as John hated to admit it, he was right. He had moved forward. And he had screwed up not asking Des sooner about the plan.

“We can’t change that now, time machine or not,” Des continued. “This isn’t how I wanted to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye?”

“I want to help free Gary from that bastard,” Des told him. “But Neron is still too fresh in my head. I have to step back from this and get my head together. These last few days plunged me back into a nightmare. I need some space, so I’m getting off here. I’ll fly back to New Orleans tomorrow. But when you all know how to get him out of Gary for good, come find me. I’m keeping my word to stop Neron.”

John nodded. He pulled the medallion Des had given him off his neck and handed it back to him.

“I get it,” he told him. “And for what it’s worth, I am sorry for how I’ve treated you.”

“Then learn from it,” Des took the medallion and put it back on. “I’m gonna talk to Sara and leave. Goodbye, Johnny.”

“Goodbye, Des.”

And then it was just him in hallway. In the direction where Des had walked, he could hear Sara greeting him and the bits of the conversation that followed. John walked in the opposite direction and pulled Gary’s glasses out of his pocket. There was a new crack in the lenses, probably from where he ran into a mirror.

“Hope you’re annoying the shit out of him,” he murmured, remembering Ava’s last order to Gary.

* * *

Ava was lying alone on her and Sara’s bed, processing through the events of the past few days now that Gideon had healed here arm. They had come to LA because Neron had been here and now they were leaving with a plan to save Gary. Although that was going to take a lot of work considering Hank had issued the order to kill him and knowing Neron wanted to take over the world. Not to mention they didn’t even know where he was at this moment. And then there was the other thing.

Ava pulled out a curved knife, staring at it against the light and remembering her conversation with Mazikeen.

_ “Why do you need to talk to me?” she grumbled once the Legends had left. _

_ “You seem pretty capable of handling yourself?” the demon replied with a smile. “And you’re not John Constantine.” _

_ “Fair enough. So what’s this about? Do you know where Neron is right now?” _

_ “I already told you no, and that’s not why I’m talking to you. Constantine’s good and all, but you need to have a backup plan when magic falls through,” Mazikeen said, pulling out a curved blade and holding it out to her. “This is your backup plan.” _

_ Ava took hold of it, studying the feather-like design on it. “I have access to plenty of knives, but thanks.” _

_ “Not this kind of knife. It’ll kill anything, human or otherwise.” _

_ “Something like Neron then?” _

_ Mazikeen grinned. “Exactly. Just stab him in his host and it’s lights out for good. You’ll end his existence then and there.” _

_ “Handy, and it sounds easy enough,” Ava remarked, then remembered it wasn’t just Neron in there. “What about the soul trapped inside?” _

_ “It would kill him too.” _

_ Ava shook her head. “I can’t do that to him.” _

_ “Well, you have to kill Neron somehow and I don’t think he’s too keen on leaving his body.” _

_ That wasn’t the answer she was looking for. Ava scowled and put the knife away. “Thanks.” _

_ “Sure, but I’ll be wanting that back once you’re done. And if that pretty shapeshifter wants to come along, I’ll be happy.” _

_ “Yeah, whatever,” Ava headed towards the elevator before stopping. “Why did you pick me to give the knife to?” _

_ Mazikeen paused. “I’ve got a good feeling about you. You look like you’ve made some hard calls.” _

Remembering Maze’s words, Ava closed her eyes and exhaled. Then she placed the blade back into her jacket. She took out her phone, scrolled to her calls, and clicked a number she’d been dialing for too long. Ava sat up on the bed, waiting for someone to pick up.

“Hello,” a man’s voice answered.

Ava exhaled. “Hi, is this Jeffery Green?”

“Yes. Who’s calling?”

“Sir, I work with your son, Gary. Something’s happened…”

* * *

_ 55 B.C. _

He wasn’t pleased about being summoned back to the village in the middle of the hunting expedition. However, a stranger had come in search of him. He had no others travelling with him, which seemed odd. The sooner he was dealt, the better. Besides, there were enough men already hunting anyways.

“Unusual for strangers to be traveling around on their own,” he addressed the man in the brown robe.

“I assure you, I can handle myself,” the man said smoothly with a smile. “You must be Konstentyn.”

“I am. Does that strike you as amusing?”

The stranger shook his head, the smile falling away. “You just remind me of someone.”

“Hmpf. And who might you be?”

“You can call me Neron,” the man told him, the smile returning to his face. “And I’ve come quite a long way to find you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where I leave you off.
> 
> Thanks for reading. Leave some kudos or comments. If you want to theorize about what you think is going to happen next, I'll be all too happy to hear you out. I love hearing that stuff.

**Author's Note:**

> Next time....Neron and Maze's night out, a reunion, and trouble. Lots of trouble.
> 
> Leave some reviews and kudos, they kick start my juices. (Also come hit me up on Tumblr about this!)


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